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Delta plans to triple gates at SEA, article

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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
 
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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
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
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