DL to grow SLC

[eolesen]

If departures are only going up by 1-2%, that's not exactly implying a whole lot of new markets being added.

DL & DL* run ~270 flights a day at SLC, so 1-2% growth = 5 flights a day, which isn't too far off from just the SLC-MKE and SLC-RDU additions...


Just as a point of reference... DL operates > 75% of the operations at SLC.

The remaining 25% is divided up as followed:

WN 10% 30
AA 6% 18
UA 5% 18
AS 2% 8
F9 2% 6
B6 1% 3

 

[robbedagain]

E does ur nbrs count us and aa as 1 now? Also how about when AS begins new service out of slc are those nbrs included or will it change?

 

[eolesen]

It's combined AA/US, based on schedules for June 2014 as they were filed at the end of December.

 

[700UW]

The article I read said DL will grow SLC 8% by 2017.

 

[eolesen]

The article I read said DL will grow SLC 8% by 2017.

No kidding. That's the same data as in the article Josh linked... if not the same article altogether...
 

Over the next five years, the airline plans to increase its Salt Lake City capacity by 8 percent, up departures by 1 to 2 percent and make the airport an "all 2-class operation" by 2017, according to Delta's formal presentation.

Again, looks like a modest increase in seating density, and a small increase in flights.

Since Mainline only accounts for 60 of the 270 flights marketed by DL, the changeover from 50 seat jets to 70 and 90 seaters will account for some of the capacity increase, and it's not out of the question to expect that perhaps some of the stuff flown by regionals could convert to mainline.

For example, DL isn't flying mainline SLC-DFW. That's Compass. But, as DL is so powerful in North Texas, I'm sure that was just an oversight by the scheduling department, just like the predominantly RJ presence on SLC-SFO, and the occasional presence in other markets like LAX.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm not impressed by hubs which are a mix of 25% mainline & 75% regional. That's pretty much what the DFW hub looked like for DL, and we know how that ended...

 

[WorldTraveler]

DL could well achieve much of its SLC capacity growth solely by adding a few markets and increasing capacity of aircraft types. Addition of two class RJs, 320s, and 757s all result in more seats per flight with few additional flights.

The point seems to be that DL is committed to maintaining capacity and SLC needs DL to be committed since the new terminal lives or dies based on what DL does.

Competitively, converting SLC to an all two class operation is more of a shot across the bow to UA than to anyone else but also impacts AS which does compete in connections in the western US.