[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]The Boyd Group Advantage[/FONT]
Aviation Perspectives & Insights
Available Nowhere Else
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]Hot Flash[/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida] - October 31, 2005[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]Update: Forecast Conference Highlights[/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]
We've posted highlights of speaker presentations and forecast sessions. And, some pictures, too. Click here.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]Song Changes Tune[/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]
[/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Lucida]But It's Still Singing[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]And the winner is: Sherwin Williams.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]Other than oil companies, it's paint suppliers that are cleaning up in the airline industry. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]There's TED, where United seems to believe that changing a color scheme will bring mystical results to what is essentially the same system as before. Now, Delta's decision to end the separate Song brand means another uptick in demand for airplane coatings.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]And that's about all it means.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]It's amazing to read comments from some "financial advisors" regarding this decision by http://www.aviationplanning.com/images/text1031a.JPGDelta. These guys come out with grand statements describing the "failure" of Song, and how it's being "shut down." [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]All of this is without any review or analysis of what's actually being done. And these are the people who want you to entrust your money with them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]Essentially, all Delta's doing is re-branding Song as mainline Delta. In most cases, the aircraft will be flying the same routes, with fares unchanged. When they dreamed up this scheme, Delta had the option back then of leaving it within the Delta identity, or trying to create a separate brand. They chose the latter. Now, they're just re-painting the aircraft back to DL colors, making the configurations compatible with the rest of the airline, and continuing doing what they've been doing.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]The concept, whether it's called Song or Delta, remains in place, and remains a valid marketing approach. Unlike TED, which carries the same passengers within the same hub system as planes with a regular United paint job, Delta's objective was to isolate low-yield traffic flows, particularly to Florida, and carry them outside of their core hub system on a nonstop basis. They made the additional decision to gussy up the product to win consumer loyalty. Based on reported load factors, and anecdotal reports, it seemed to work.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]The downside was that as a separate sub-brand, it brought with it some operational issues. Apparently, Delta has decided it can keep the passengers and cut overall costs by doing away with the separate Song brand identity. And that's pretty much the sum total of what they're doing. It's not a retreat from jetBlue. It's not a "shut down" of an airline.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdan, Lucida]It's another paint job, mostly.[/FONT]
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