American Ends Austin - San Jose Flights

(MoneyWatch)  The nerd bird is dead. After 17 years of funneling the best and the brightest between Silicon Valley and Austin, American has decided to kill the flight. How sad.

Back in 1992 when the flight started, most of the world knew nothing of the internet, but the computer industry was booming. Intel was working on the Pentium processor for its release the following year. And Dell had only rolled out its first laptop with a color screen the year before. It was this environment that made American jump into the fray to connect two of the growing centers of tech development.

Of course, we all know that the .com boom made this market an incredibly lucrative one. American added multiple flights, and even after the bust and September 11, it still saw reason to keep it flying. The flight even survived through last summer's peak oil prices, so what's happened now?

Demand is down everywhere, and some of the more business-friendly routes are getting hit the hardest. American has slowly dismantled the San Jose hub operation over the years, and competition has only increased in the Austin market. With United and JetBlue both flying to San Francisco from Austin and Southwest to Oakland, American probably just couldn't justify it anymore considering the drop in demand.

It's a sad statement on business today, but it's likely a smart move on American's part . . . for now.