In July 2011, Delta Air Lines (who merged with Northwest in 2009) told the United States Department of Transportation that a weak economy and lower seat demand would force the company to reduce flights to several smaller communities including Sioux City unless it received assistance from the federal government. Delta said planes left Sioux Gateway with an average of only 51.4% of their seats full, so given that the company planned to remove turboprop planes and some of its 50-seat jets from service by the end of 2011 it wasn't economically viable for Delta to continue service. Of the average 75 passengers who flew the SUX-MSP route each day, only nine flew directly to the Twin Cities or to Sioux City, according to the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The majority of passengers were connecting through MSP to destinations such as Chicago, Phoenix or Orlando. Delta made its final flights into Sioux Gateway in April 2012.