Updated: 07/16/2011 4:21 PM

By: Jennie Olson

Delta Airlines is stopping flights to 24 small cities because it’s reportedly losing $14 million a year on those flights. The company added that on average these flights are only 52 percent full.

Five cities are in Minnesota, including Thief River Falls, Hibbing, International Falls, Brainerd and Bemidji.

Delta will continue servicing these markets until replacement carriers are found, but U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is pushing Delta to reconsider.

In a letter to Delta CEO Richard Anderson, Klobuchar asked Delta to continue service to Greater Minnesota airports, saying “commercial airline service to these impacted communities has been a lifeline for tourists and businesses alike.”

She serves on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee and Subcommittee on Aviation, which has jurisdiction over the nation’s aviation system and all U.S. airline carriers.

“The cities you have identified for reduced or eliminated service – Thief River Falls, Hibbing, International Falls, Brainerd, and Bemidji – are especially reliant on your service since they are not served by any other commercial carrier,” she wrote in the letter.