Delta adds LGA-ORD and DFW service

[flyhigh]

Titan,

With the LGA-ORD/DFW services, DL is using a 70 seat aircraft. So, they don't need that many pax to be profitable on the route. Plus, from a NY perspective, while the shuttle is a great service, a large piece of the puzzle that Delta has missed is two of NYC's biggest destinations...ORD & DFW. By adding these to their product offering for NY'ers, they gain the ability to sign businesses to additional revenue guarantees/requirements on contracts. The key will be having to guts to stay in the required amount of time to gain the creditability of serving the market.

On RDU-LAX, it's almost all utilization. Flying a 7pm flight to ATL and then on to Florida or something with this same 738 won't do much good. By sending it to LA & back by morning, they get great utilization out of the plane and offer a new service to the market...

 

[B.O.B.]

Titan,

With the LGA-ORD/DFW services, DL is using a 70 seat aircraft. So, they don't need that many pax to be profitable on the route. Plus, from a NY perspective, while the shuttle is a great service, a large piece of the puzzle that Delta has missed is two of NYC's biggest destinations...ORD & DFW. By adding these to their product offering for NY'ers, they gain the ability to sign businesses to additional revenue guarantees/requirements on contracts. The key will be having to guts to stay in the required amount of time to gain the creditability of serving the market.

On RDU-LAX, it's almost all utilization. Flying a 7pm flight to ATL and then on to Florida or something with this same 738 won't do much good. By sending it to LA & back by morning, they get great utilization out of the plane and offer a new service to the market...

I wish them luck going against the GorillAA and UniTED!

 

[Flying Titan]

Titan,

With the LGA-ORD/DFW services, DL is using a 70 seat aircraft. So, they don't need that many pax to be profitable on the route. Plus, from a NY perspective, while the shuttle is a great service, a large piece of the puzzle that Delta has missed is two of NYC's biggest destinations...ORD & DFW. By adding these to their product offering for NY'ers, they gain the ability to sign businesses to additional revenue guarantees/requirements on contracts. The key will be having to guts to stay in the required amount of time to gain the creditability of serving the market.

On RDU-LAX, it's almost all utilization. Flying a 7pm flight to ATL and then on to Florida or something with this same 738 won't do much good. By sending it to LA & back by morning, they get great utilization out of the plane and offer a new service to the market...

FlyHigh -
You're right that the aircraft is certainly being utilized (i.e. - tied-up) on the RDU-LAX route. It will be good utilization if the seats are full and if the yields are high enough. I just question whether this represents the best utilization because this route cuts the number of seats available per day from this plane. The LF and yields have to be good or this route will be a loser. Personally, w/ fuel at today's levels I wouldn't want to run any transcons that weren't virtually full.

As for the LGA flights, you're right. The fact that these are using the new EMB 70-seaters is a plus. My concern is that they're jumping into the ring with multiple 800-pound gorillas who already have strong customer loyalty on these routes and where the competitive response will be relatively easy (e.g. - an added frequency or two, bonus miles, etc.)

Both of these moves seem to be a departure from DL'S strengths. Is this the start of a new approach? Perhaps they will work. I'm just trying to figure out how these new routes fit into the overall picture for DL as it moves forward.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Titan,
Remember that DL has been in something of an “in-betweenâ€￾ position for a number of years… they are not as large or global as AA or UA but bigger than NW or CO. In order to turn themselves around, they have the ability to move up the foodchain and become more like AA and UA in their product offerings or move down the foodchain which is tantamount to preparing to close up shop. I believe DL realizes that their future depends on broadening their offering and is doing the rational and intelligent thing. Don’t forget that NYC is a very competitive market with AA and CO expanding their already extensive NYC business offerings while B6 is moving into every potential leisure market and many that have pretty decent business potential. Standing still for DL will result in getting run over. DL has way too much revenue derived from NYC to walk away from the market so they have no choice but to fix what is broken and fill in the holes that are missing.

RDULAX is just paying attention to good market opportunities and jumping faster than other carriers. This market could work for AA, DL, or US but DL jumped first. It’s possible but doubtful that someone else will jump in.

 

[sfb]

Not that I think that payback is a good business strategy, but I'm surprised that no one has mentioned AA's addition of five daily round-trips between ATL and LGA this past June.

Then again, there is another distinct possibility. Of NYC's top 15 destinations, Delta currently serves eleven; LAX and SFO are relatively recent additions. With the new LGA-MIA service announced in December, as well as these two new services, Delta will now offer non-stop service to 14 of NYC's top 15 destinations (actually, it's 14 of the top 14; DEN is #15). This may allow them to better compete for business travelers from New York when combined with their broad portfolio of international flights from JFK