Delta To Suspend Some Song Flights

[HPearlyretiree]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines (NYSEAL - News), struggling to cut costs and avert filing for bankruptcy protection, plans to suspend nearly one third of the flights at its low-fare carrier Song in September, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.



The airline will drop 41 of Song's 140 daily flights in September, the newspaper said.

The newspaper quoted a Delta spokeswoman as saying the changes in Song's flight schedule were "nothing unusual" and the planes would undergo routine maintenance during September, considered a slow month for the airline industry.

Delta officials said they plan to restore the flights in October, the Journal reported.

Among the routes losing flights are Los Angeles to Tampa, Florida, and Los Angeles to Orlando, Florida, the newspaper said.

Atlanta-based Delta, the No. 3 U.S. airline, has warned it could seek bankruptcy protection if it cannot cut costs. Last year, it created the Song unit in an effort to fend off competition from discount rivals.

Delta was not immediately available for comment on the report to Reuters.



Nothing unusual about dropping the flights and bringing them back a month later?

So, an airline within an airline doesn't work? Shocking! They could have asked Usairways or Continentat before blowing all this cash!

 

[local 12 proud]

will they ever learn?

 

[jimntx]

It never ceases to amaze me the unwillingness of management types (and I don't mean just airlines) to learn from the mistakes of others or the past.

When I was at Texaco, and upper-mgt type came down from White Plains and pronounced to my group what we were going to start doing immediately. I asked him, "What has changed?" He said he didn't understand my question. I pointed out that the exact actions he proposed had not worked the first 5 times we had tried them; so, I was curious as to what had changed about the situation that would make those actions successful this time.

His response, "Well, you just have to try harder." Evidently, the Song employees didn't try harder.

 

[flyhigh]

Jumping to conclusion a bit aren't we? Let's ask some real questions now...

- What is the slowest period for Florida? I'll give you a hint...the month between August & October.

- What is a weaker segment for Florida: Northeast to Florida or West Coast to Florida? Another hint...Los Angeles is part of this region.

- What quality do Song's planes have that JetBlue's don't? No hint, I'll just give you the darn answer...757's are older than 320's and thus have mx cycles more often. As a result, it is wiser to take them out of service and perform the maintenance when you hit your slowest period.

Did anybody even check to see what flights were being pulled? If it is flying that is during peaks, then maybe you can question. However, if it isn't, then stop reading the press and taking it for gospel truth. Has anybody realized that been getting the negative press from mgmt lately? Could that be indicitive of improved performance???????

 

[funguy2]

flyhigh:

You are absolutely correct. Most airlines would rather park half the fleet in September than fly them... DAL is just responding to the seasonality of demand... Or so it would appear... If these flights don't come back for the big Thanksgiving and/or Christmas pushes, then maybe we can claim evidence of the end of Song...

 

[RDUSWF]

The "song remains the same"

 

[coolflyingfool]

I just cannot believe that the demand for SONG has been determined to fall in just Sept. 41 flights would mean that approximately 8 to 10 planes are going to be parked. IF maintenance was being done on those planes, there would have to be some major empty hangar to handle 8 planes at 1 time, or over a month. This just seems odd to me as traffic in OCT is pretty low as well. Just my thoughts.......

 

[local 12 proud]

pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

 

[funguy2]

I just cannot believe that the demand for SONG has been determined to fall in just Sept. 41 flights would mean that approximately 8 to 10 planes are going to be parked. IF maintenance was being done on those planes, there would have to be some major empty hangar to handle 8 planes at 1 time, or over a month. This just seems odd to me as traffic in OCT is pretty low as well. Just my thoughts.......

I tend to agree with you... But, travel demand falls of a cliff for September. Perhaps DAL is trying to inflate Song's financial numbers for justification. (Less Song flying in Sept, smaller loss).

Of course, on the MX Line side, you are correct... Which might suggest a small increase in "higher cost" mainline DAL flying... which seems counter productive in a slow demand period.

As I said before, if the Song flights don't come back for November/December schedules, then we can start discussing how Song is being dismantled.

 

[HPearlyretiree]

Profitable airlines don't park planes. And if this is such a good strategy, how come other airlines don't do this all the time?

Spin, spin, spin

 

[DalMD88]

The planes being pulled out of service will be getting the final IFE equipment installed I have heard. And yes we do have a very big hangar, and an even bigger ramp that we can work on.

 

[LiveInAHotel]

Song, Song, blue...

It seems the heat is on!

 

[flyhigh]

HP-

ALL airlines park planes. If they don't the planes break. Again, Song's 757's are older and have requirements that A-320's don't.

As for traffic...demand actually falls off in about mid-August when school starts back up and the depression continues through about mid/late September. Schedules, however, don't typically change until about Sept...old airline habbits die hard...

 

[HPearlyretiree]

All airlines park a third of their fleet for a month, then put out a press release?

Really? Who? and When?

And what airline idles a third of their fleet for C checks at once?

Airlines don't make money when their planes are sitting on the ground, unless they want to lose less money by not flying them.

 

[mweiss]

That's not universally true, HP, and you know it. Otherwise, why were so many parked in the desert for the past several years?

I don't know enough about the motivation behind Delta's decision. It may or may not be what you claim it to be, and none of us have sufficient information to know.