yes, WH, you are right on the typo. The reference should be to to regulated era. The point is that DL couldn't find its way to success for years and managed to survive despite itself. It now has found what it takes to succeed and is dramatically turning the ship around. It is for that reason that I am very optimistic about DL's ability to take a leadership position in the industry.
For those of you who have looked at DL and UA’s joint application to the DOT to transfer UA’s NYC-LON rights, you will see the dozens of destinations that DL serves from JFK that will provide connections to London. Every city that UA served from JFK had its own nonstop service to London. UA was trying to operate the flight on a point to point basis in two cities, NYC and London, where neither UA or the Star Alliance is the largest carrier.
The application can be found here:
http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/pdf97/406913_web.pdf
For those of you who think I can so no wrong about DL, I have repeatedly stated that DL’s previous failures on the Pacific were because of exactly the same situation UA faced to London – lack of feed. Even the largest international markets require feed on one end or the other or they don’t work. Even if a market is large enough to support nonstop point to point service, there will be other carriers that enter the market using a hub on one end. The carrier operating point to point service will face eroded yields and will struggle to maintain market competitive traffic levels. Based on what DL is doing at JFK, I believe DL recognized the error of its previous Pacific strategy and will be back again, using the right aircraft and providing an abundance of domestic feed this time around.
Regional jets are inherently higher CASM aircraft but the added value they bring to an international operation is enormous. Operating ten regional aircraft in and out of an international gateway is a very small price to pay to support an international flight that can easily generate $50 million per year and often much more than that. Because European flights operate within a 4-6 hour window each day, DL expanded the domestic schedule to provide a small domestic hub and added Mexico and Latin flying which operates at different times that European flights. In reality, DL is shifting part of its CVG domestic operation to JFK to provide enough domestic mass.
There remains a hugely wild assumption that LHR is the preferred London airport and that none other will work. The reality is that no other London airport besides LHR has been able to grow to its full potential because of Bermuda 2. There was a time when JFK was the preferred international airport for NYC but since free market forces were allowed to work, EWR is a very successful international gateway. The same can be said for IAD and BWI. While most foreign carriers that serve London use Heathrow (which is undoubtedly why DL wants to be there because that critical mass brings an abundance of connecting opportunities), airlines have never been free to fully develop Gatwick so it really is not known how well it will do. NW’s ability to maintain service on DTWLGW despite BA’s use of DTWLHR along with CO’s flights in EWRLGW against BA and VS in EWRLHR shows that LHR service does not at all make it impossible for a carrier to succeed at LGW. In time, you could well see substantial transatlantic service from STN as well.
