Fewer US airlines means 7% fewer flights, and some small markets are paying the price

The recent U.S. airline mergers have left us with just four mega carriers, and as the airlines have consolidated in number they've also consolidated their operations, causing major consequences like the closing of small connecting hubs, a slashed number of flights to certain destinations and elimination of certain routes entirely.

And that's not to mention how it's widely believed that airline consolidation — and the elimination of competition — has had a lot to do with ticket prices rising, according to an Associated Press analysis.

The Wall Street Journal reports that airlines have cut 7% of all flights over the past four years. In the third week of July 2015, airlines operated 11,475 fewer flights in the U.S. than in the same week of July 2011. MasFlight, a flight tracking and data firm associated with aviation data and analytics company OAG, crunched the data.

Flights have not been eliminated evenly across the board, either. Memphis International Airport has been hit hardest, with 66% fewer weekly flights in July 2015 as compared with July 2011. Milwaukee also is seeing less action with 45% fewer flights now as four years ago.

Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport's director of marketing was quoted in the article as saying: “I don’t think any airport feels like there’s enough air service these days." Flights at her Virginia airport have dropped by more than half over the past four years.

Fewer flights through smaller hubs not only inconveniences nearby residents, but it also eliminates the number of connecting flight options. According to Fortune, as a result, people often have no choice but to purchase a more expensive direct flight — that is if a direct flight is even available, as many routes have been done away with. There is no longer a New York/LaGuardia-Baltimore direct flight, for example.

Airlines claim these cuts or — to use an airline euphemism — "capacity reductions," have been necessary to become and stay profitable companies. And at the same time, as many cities have been losing flights, some cities have seen increased service, like Seattle and Austin, the Journal reports.