Delta plans to triple gates at SEA, article

[Green Banana]

it seems the SEA airport authority is not fighting this DL growth plan.

Bye Bye---General Lee

Not exactly rolling out the red carpet either. So far this has worked out much better for Alaska.

 

[General Lee]

Not exactly rolling out the red carpet either. So far this has worked out much better for Alaska.

Uhhhhhh riiiight. The 4 DL 757s or 767s parked out in B, the 757s and 320s parked at the A gates, and all of the A330s parked at the South Satellite seem to tell a different story.... More is on the way too. Looks like a 737 pilot base will be opening on the first bid in 2015.(in addition to the current 7ER and 330 categories) Some thought it would be a 717 base, but demand has been better and a larger plane type is needed.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Ocity]

The only effect DAL has had on Alaska is to increase Alaskas already industry leading profitability. Nearly 22% ROI in the airline business in unheard of.

 

[jonjuan]

The only effect DAL has had on Alaska is to increase Alaskas already industry leading profitability. Nearly 22% ROI in the airline business in unheard of.

Spirit has huge roi as well due to similar lack of much competition. Wait until it picks up, however as delta plans on tripling capacity to Juno.

 

[Mea25000]

Wait wait wait... That's what we all heard last year too. It's been a year now and well seems like both carriers will be fine. Remember the Delta huge PDX expansion. They were going to go everywhere out of PDX... Remember Western? Yes Delta has a track record on the west coast... I would call it total domination and no one stands a chance against them! At the first sign of a slowing economy Delta will do what it has always done..run east and hide. Triple down in PAJN.. Wow that is smart. Just found out for the last 80 years AS has never had to compete. Well cats out of the bag now.. There goes all that EAS GRAVY. I guess this Delta push is the first time.

 

[Mea25000]

To all the Delta pilots out there.. Thank you. And I mean that. You guys turned this industry back around. Now everyone is doing well. Consolidation has been great and our careers look brighter. AS could have never spearheaded that drive. It took a large carrier and you guys did it. For the next 30 years most likely my pay will be thanks to AMR, DAL, And UAUA. But why can't we all be happy for one another. HAL, JTBLU, SWA, are all doing great. I am happy for everyone out there. Here is to wishing us all the best!

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

Is that why you're getting Surface's?

Laughable reason but entirely true. Story from line check meeting... Apple P.Od our CEO when they were charging full freight for some licensing on the Delta app in the App store. We were giving them huge discounts to try to steer cupertino away from United (sorry UAL folks), and they didnt recognize the deals we were giving them on travel. Meanwhile, like GL said earlier, the decision about Haneda came up and they shifted focus to Seattle overflights instead of a Narita hub. Microsoft is in Seattle and has a massive worldwide travel budget. (Rumor has it, thats the reason why we got back AMS-BOM on Microsoft's requests.)

Apple paid a mea culpa in a commercial when they launched the Iphone 5 and the phone was seen scrolling through apps and the first one rhey swiped was the Delta app. Apparently, we made a deal to buy the surface to help microsoft even though the decisions and testing was made to go with the IPAD. We purchased 12k+ of the OLD surface 2 and bought the stews all their mobile units on a steep discount.

This tablet rollout is about a year late and is a collossal train wreck, but mgmt keeps spinning it like they are right on sked.....

Oh well, I get paid twice a month whether or not I look at paper or a screen....it doesnt matter to me.

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

To all the Delta pilots out there.. Thank you. And I mean that. You guys turned this industry back around. Now everyone is doing well. Consolidation has been great and our careers look brighter. AS could have never spearheaded that drive. It took a large carrier and you guys did it. For the next 30 years most likely my pay will be thanks to AMR, DAL, And UAUA. But why can't we all be happy for one another. HAL, JTBLU, SWA, are all doing great. I am happy for everyone out there. Here is to wishing us all the best!

This is a mirage!

There is no place for niceties on FI Mea....but thanks, I think capacity control by everybody except Spirit will keep this industry going.

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

Looks like 20 gates for delta by 2017 which is a 90% increase over the current 11 gates. That's pretty significant growth in 2 1/2 years.

Im not super familar with the seattle ops, but will these gates be new build on the island or a capture of gates in the main terminal? I dont really remember a lot of space there. As a Europe guy, I dont get out there....

This announcement sorta puzzled me.

 

[General Lee]

Im not super familar with the seattle ops, but will these gates be new build on the island or a capture of gates in the main terminal? I dont really remember a lot of space there. As a Europe guy, I dont get out there....

This announcement sorta puzzled me.

It's grown significantly already. Way back when DL used B gates, then moved to the new A gates, and then was bumped to the South Island after the merger. Since then, DL has flights out of all 3 again. The S gates (island) still has a customs and some foreign airlines still use it (EK, KE, BA, etc), so the airport will have to expand customs somewhere else if DL wants the island for itself.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[General Lee]

The Bloomberg article answers a few more of the questions

From a Bloomberg article written by Michael Sasso:

Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) wants to almost triple its gates at the Seattle airport, challenging market leader Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK), as the carrier expands its newest West Coast hub and jumping-off point to Asia.

"We're making good progress on our discussion to upgrade the facility and to turn Seattle into a huge international gateway for Delta," Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said on a recorded message to employees.

Delta, the world's third-largest airline, is seeking 30 gates at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in the long term, Anderson said on the Nov. 13 call. The airline currently has 11 gates, according to the airport, the largest base for Seattle-based Alaska.

Delta has been pushing into Alaska's home turf for more than a year as the two fight for market share at an airport where the smaller airline now controls about 40 percent of the traffic. Atlanta-based Delta has designated Seattle as a hub from which to offer an increasing number of trans-Pacific flights.

Anderson's message suggests Delta is pushing beyond a previously stated goal. In September, Seattle airport spokesman Perry Cooper said Delta wanted about 150 flights a day at the airport by 2017. That would require 19 or 20 gates, assuming eight flights a day from each one, Cooper said.

Delta Capacity
Delta could potentially operate 240 flights a day with 30 Seattle gates, Cooper said. Sea-Tac, as the airport is commonly known, determines how many gates to grant airlines each year according to formula using their number of outbound seats as of August, Cooper said.

"That's one of the estimated opportunities there," Cooper said by telephone. "But does that mean that somebody would use that many?"

Delta didn't return a call yesterday seeking comment about Anderson's remarks on the employee call.

At 30 gates, Delta's Seattle operation would still be smaller than United Airlines' hub in San Francisco, which often is seen as the dominant hub to Asia because of that market's large Asian population. United operates from 32 domestic gates at San Francisco International Airport and shares 12 international gates with partner airlines in the Star Alliance, said Megan McCarthy, a United spokeswoman.

Delta's biggest West Coast base is now Los Angeles, where the airline handled about 6.89 million passengers in the year ended in July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The airline's Seattle total was 3.37 million people.

Delta has been boosting domestic flights to and from Seattle to build connecting traffic, which then could fly to Asia. President Ed Bastian told analysts in a third-quarter earnings call last month that Delta's decision to cut seats from Cincinnati and Memphis, Tennessee, while expanding in Seattle is producing solid results.

"Seattle's domestic performance has significantly exceeded our expectations as unit revenues increased 6 percent on a 25 percent increase in capacity," Bastian said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Sasso in Atlanta



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[FCPhotography]

If I got wind that Alaska and Southwest were teaming up, I would do exactly what Delta has done in SEA.

 

[General Lee]

If I got wind that Alaska and Southwest were teaming up, I would do exactly what Delta has done in SEA.

Nah, they are pretty much moving the Narita hub to SEA. Planes can overfly Narita now, and Japan doesn't want to give up more Haneda slots (downtown airport) that could affect their own national airlines. SEA is the closest hub to Asia in the Lower 48 states, has plenty of big businesses, and DL will get acess to more gates and plenty of internal feed.

Now if AS and SWA want to merge, that wouldn't be a bad thing overall. Fewer competitors means higher profits for everyone remaining.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[moochild11]

5 year snapshot in SEA..Alaska bigger than today..Delta bigger than today...everyone else smaller..Delta is definitely going to steal passengers in SEA..just not Alaskas..add that to the fact the DAL is going to bring in lots and lots of NEW passengers with their Asia flying and it really is looking like DAL coming into SEA is going to be a positive for the Eskimo..as far as the gates go..delta gets gates when they bring the seats..aint no way they are getting any Alaska gates(we actually are getting more gates..3 a day out of the A gates). Our C concourse redo is currently under way and then the N satellite is getting completely torn down and redone(with more gates)..delta already went to the Port and asked to get the South satellite redo moved up and were told to get in line.

 

[jonjuan]

Delta adds more RJs to SEA. Giddy-up! Good thing dalpa gave away more jumbo RJs to compass and Skywest.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/delta-adds-denver-boise-sacramento-170000179.html

 

[SplitBar]

Delta adds more RJs to SEA. Giddy-up! Good thing dalpa gave away more jumbo RJs to compass and Skywest.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/delta-adds-denver-boise-sacramento-170000179.html

It's common for new routes, especially of this stage length, to begin with RJs. If they are successful and the demand is there then look for them to be upgauged with mainline aircraft.

 

[General Lee]

Delta adds more RJs to SEA. Giddy-up! Good thing dalpa gave away more jumbo RJs to compass and Skywest.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/delta-adds-denver-boise-sacramento-170000179.html

Uhhhh, DL will be adding a 737 pilot crew base to SEA, in addition to the current 7ER and A330 base. Initially some thought a 717 base may be out there, but demand must be greater for a larger plane. The bid will supposedly occur in early 2015, so these new RJ routes will help open up those markets.


Thanks Juany!



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[wmuflyguy]

I keep waiting for Delta to open a west coast 717 base or MD base. All the other airlines fly 737's and A320's between LAX-SFO and here they are driving E170's between the two.

 

[General Lee]

I keep waiting for Delta to open a west coast 717 base or MD base. All the other airlines fly 737's and A320's between LAX-SFO and here they are driving E170's between the two.

Again, it was recently announced that SEA will get a 737 pilot crew base. There are already bases in LA (7ER and 737), and SLC (320,737,7ER).

I suppose management thinks the E170s are a good fit for now on the LA-SFO shuttle right now. I doubt you'll see any DL 717s out West for awhile, unless more are sourced. And the other reason more E170s are going West---717s are being put into DTW, bumping them out.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Old School 737]

I hear delta got 1 additional gate for next year only .. So debate ..