Delta Air Lines Seeks 'Crown Jewel' for New York-JFK Hub: Nonstop Flights to London

[FA Mikey]

story here

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has approved Delta Air Lines Inc.'s deal worth up to $21 million to buy from UAL Corp.'s United Airlines the authority to provide nonstop service from New York to London.

 

[JFK777]

Now delta can fly a 763 from JFk to LGW, gee how exciting(Delta should invite the Queen for the inaugaural), not even BA flies that market. BA flies to LHR 8 times daily from JFK & 3 daily from EWR. Delta is a lamb going to the slaughter.

 

[artiefufkin1]

*yawn*

Yes, you know better than Delta's route developement department.

I'd love to see your analysis but I'm guessing it was just you going to Orbitz and counting the frequencies in the market...LOL.

 

[artiefufkin1]

Looks like Delta told the Judge exactly what I said the reason was in this thread two week ago. *honk* *honk* tooting my own horn...LOL

AJC

Bankruptcy Judge Adlai Hardin said Atlanta-based Delta has "sound business justifications and "compelling circumstances" for buying rights to the route from United Airlines, Dow Jones newswires reported.

Delta flies between Atlanta and London, but the lack of New York-London service has long been a major hole in Delta's international route system. Executives say it has made it harder to market Delta service to large companies, especially in the New York area.

The airline said the United deal reflects its need to "garner a larger share of this important and profitable market."

 

[JFK777]

Artiefufkin1,

My Analysis is based on many factors, years of flying between JFK and LHR Business Class, knowing how slow to react Delta's management has been in the last 20 years, the sharks at BA & AA managements, the type of airplane DL is using agianst BA, AA and VS aircarft, the product Delta will offer and other factors.

Delta offering seems to be by the summer of 2007 2 daily nonsop 767-300ER from JFk to LGW, if DL offers a limited frequency service with two 767 with 400 seats daily they could make it work. This is not your standard atlantic route, BA offers 8(soon 9) daily flights, AA & VS offer 5 or six each with 744, A346 and 777. Delta has older, smaller airplanes with an inferior BIZ Class and less frequency. Delta also has EOS and Maxjet to compete against, this is the biggest international route in he world. Delta needs to make a splash, 777 anybody.

 

[flyhigh]

...CO operates EWR-LGW twice a day against BA, Virgin, and AA all to LHR and does quite well. DL doesn't need LHR and DEFINITELY doesn't need to waste a 777 on the route. They have 8 of them, all of which are tied up on long range flights that require the 777. This is the one thing the customer has really wanted from Delta Int'l in NYC. It took new leaders to actually act on it thought (ORD & DFW specifically). Now we have to see if DL has the wherewithall to stay in the market if it takes a little time to mature.

 

[WorldTraveler]

UA filed to operate up to 4 flights/day next summer so DL could operate more than 2. I believe DL's wording is that they will operate at least 2 flights/day beginning next spring.

Like so much, the chorus of naysayers is ready to stand around and say how stupid DL is and yet DL has managed to make its restructuring effort work.

But at the same time we know that airlines like AA never have money losing routes; they just have announced/signaled about a half dozen transatlantic and transpacific route cancellations in the last month because they need more aircraft to fly to S. America.

 

[hp_fa]

Nothing has worked yet. DL is still in Ch. 11. Let's see what happens after they emerge.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Nothing has worked yet.

No statement could be further from the truth. DL just reported an operating profit margin higher than UA and darling-of-the industry CO and on par with AA which is considered one of the more conservative players in the industry. Further DL’s YOY operating profit margin is 10 points higher than a year ago which has contributed to hundreds of dollars of additional cash on hand since filing for BK and have been steadily increasing for the past four months. What kind of profit margin did US or HP report during their bankruptcies?

Even DL’s critics on this board cannot deny what it has accomplished and still maintain any semblance of rationality.

Your comment is exactly what can be expected from a jaded ex-industry employee.

 

[hp_fa]

Your comment is exactly what can be expected from a jaded ex-industry employee.

You're very funny.