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Delta to announce new INTL routes tomorrow

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CPH = Copenhagen, DK
 
IAHERJ said:
Delta is now doing what Continental started doing in the late 90's. I hope it is not "too little to late". This kind of yield management should have been incorporated years ago. That is what scares me the most about Delta's chances of surviving a Ch. 11. Over 4 years after 9/11 they have decided that flying overseas actually commands a higher revenue premium over sending 250 seat widebodies to FLA. No shoeeeeeittt?????? Good luck. The retirement benefits and careers of many people close to me depend on this late strategic move to work.

IAHERJ

Well, I could say "better late than never." 737pylt is correct in some ways, what was our management doing before this new guy showed up? Well, he now has a job here and he is making waves. Let's hope he earns his large salary. I see these changes as "a possible way out of Chap 11." It should have been done a long time ago.


Bye Bye--General Lee
 
Delta's Trans-Atlantic Solution

By MICHELINE MAYNARD
Published: October 18, 2005

Delta Air Lines, which filed for bankruptcy protection just last month, will announce a wave of new international flights today to cities including Edinburgh, Budapest and Venice, additions that Delta said would make it the biggest airline crossing the Atlantic.

The new flights will begin next year, and will allow Delta to eclipse competitors like American, British Airways and Continental, the company said in a statement yesterday.

Delta's new international flights are the latest sign of a growing revival in international service by American carriers, which significantly cut back those routes after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

At present, major airlines offer 167 international routes, the most since 2000, when they served 175 overseas routes, according to Back Aviation Solutions, a consulting firm based in New Haven.

On flights across the Atlantic, the most traveled international route, profits at domestic airlines are up 5.8 percent this year. By contrast, profits have slipped 0.8 percent on domestic routes, according to Back Aviation estimates.

That is one reason all the biggest United States airlines with overseas destinations plan to add more such flights. "International markets have had far better pricing power than domestic markets," said Michael S. Allen, Back Aviation's chief operating officer.

Delta said that by next summer it would serve a total of 11 new markets from two airports: Kennedy in New York and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Delta's home city.

Most of the service begins next spring in time for summer, the busiest season of the year for leisure travel, said Glen W. Hauenstein, a Delta executive vice president, who joined the airline earlier this year from Alitalia.

Delta's announcement comes just over a month after it filed for Chapter 11. The airline has begun clipping parts of its domestic service, and is shifting other flights to regional carriers like Comair and SkyWest to focus on its international business.

In May, Delta plans to add flights from Kennedy to Budapest; Dublin and Shannon, Ireland; and Manchester, England. Flights from Atlanta to Edinburgh; Nice, France; Venice; and Athens will also start in May. In June, Delta wants to add service from New York to Kiev, Ukraine, contingent on approval in both countries.

Delta had previously announced other new international routes from Atlanta, including Tel Aviv, beginning in March; Düsseldorf, Germany, in April; and Copenhagen in May.

Delta also said yesterday that it would add another summer-only flight from Atlanta to Shannon, and extra service from New York to Rome, giving it 11 flights a week between New York and cities in Italy.

"Ireland and Italy are the two markets where you can't have enough service in the summer," Mr. Hauenstein said.

Delta said it would shift eight of its Boeing 767-400 wide-bodied aircraft to its trans-Atlantic routes. By contrast, several domestic carriers, including American and Continental, operate narrow-bodied Boeing 757 jets on some of their international routes.

Mr. Hauenstein said the airline planned to play up that difference in an advertising campaign inviting passengers to "stretch your wings and legs." The airline has begun refurbishing the cabins of its 767 jets, adding seats with a 60-inch pitch - the distance from the front of the arm rest to the same point on the seat ahead - in business class, and other improvements. (The current pitch is about 55 inches in business class, and 32 inches in coach.) He said about one-third of the planes would be ready when the new flights begin next spring, and the rest within a year.

Other airlines that have sought bankruptcy protection have taken longer to make changes in service, focusing on cost-cutting first and routes later. But Mr. Hauenstein said Delta saw no need to wait. "There's no time like the present if you know you have to do something," he said.

Mr. Allen of Back Aviation also saw another motive. By announcing the flights this far in advance of next summer, Delta can begin collecting ticket revenue now, giving it more cash to get through the early months of its bankruptcy.

And the new routes also give passengers an incentive to keep booking tickets. "They're trying to minimize the shrinkage of their business," Mr. Allen said.

But as more airlines play the international card, the advantage any one company can claim will diminish, he added.

"This game will play itself out; everybody can't keep racing to add international service" because profits will eventually erode, Mr. Allen said.
 
On Your Six said:
I presume 767-300s or 767-400s. DAL may have to shift some otherwise domestic 767s to international. That's ok because the yields on international routes will be a lot greater than those found domestically...



Until the "new and improved" USAirways caps those at $500 r/t.:rolleyes: Seems to me this international flying is just a stop gap measure to stem the flow of red ink. Either one of 2 things will happen if past practice is any indication. One, ALL the legacy carriers with international route authority will add capacity to the market, thus creating a glut like they always do. Or,two, some billionaire with money to burn will start service with a handful of cast off widebodys and undercut the existing airlines already in the market. Witness MaxJet out of IAD and I think its EOS out of JFK. Sorry guys ...same playbook different decade :(



PHXFLYR:cool:
 
PHXFLYR said:
Until the "new and improved" USAirways caps those at $500 r/t.:rolleyes: Seems to me this international flying is just a stop gap measure to stem the flow of red ink. Either one of 2 things will happen if past practice is any indication. One, ALL the legacy carriers with international route authority will add capacity to the market, thus creating a glut like they always do. Or,two, some billionaire with money to burn will start service with a handful of cast off widebodys and undercut the existing airlines already in the market. Witness MaxJet out of IAD and I think its EOS out of JFK. Sorry guys ...same playbook different decade :(



PHXFLYR:cool:

EOS and MaxJet have a lot of proving to do, and they will probably fail quickly. EOS has 48 first class seats on a 757. MaxJet will go to Stanstead Airport, which is only convienent to passengers living around Stanstead. CAL tried it and pulled out too. DL and CAL have been adding flights to new city pairs, that would normally be accessible through connecting hubs on foreign carriers. CAL added cities like Belfast and Bristol. DAL is adding nonstops to Budapest and Venice. All of those required stops in European hubs before, and they can add a premium to those. Adding more flights to London Gatwick is one thing, but adding nonstops to Tel Aviv and creating a whole new way of getting there while avoiding EWR is another.

Bye Bye--General Lee
 
YIPPIE! Management is raping my pensionso they can further add to their millions but, no matter.... cause we're going int'l!!! Gee, I'm so excited!!!

General... you ought to spend your time fighting what your mgmt is doing to y'alls contract and pension as opposed to celebrateing new service, IMHO.

Read the thread about Alask vs NWA mechanics and discover how much your mgmt is stealing from employees by setting up trusts that are immune to creditor while in bancruptcy.

I don't mean to rain on your parade. Congrats on the new upcoming service. I just think you should be more angry at your mgmt.
 
whymeworry? said:
YIPPIE! Management is raping my pensionso they can further add to their millions but, no matter.... cause we're going int'l!!! Gee, I'm so excited!!!

General... you ought to spend your time fighting what your mgmt is doing to y'alls contract and pension as opposed to celebrateing new service, IMHO.

Read the thread about Alask vs NWA mechanics and discover how much your mgmt is stealing from employees by setting up trusts that are immune to creditor while in bancruptcy.

I don't mean to rain on your parade. Congrats on the new upcoming service. I just think you should be more angry at your mgmt.

I don't care about the pensions. They are an obstacle too high to climb, so if they are dumped I wouldn't mind. We owe $10.6 billion. If we had 20 years to pay that off, it would still cost $530 million a year. (that's before all of the other costs, like fuel etc) Bye Bye pensions. We have had 2500 senior guys take half of their pensions, and leave. That helps the rest of us, and those senior guys got something for their long service. The NW guys don't have that option, which really suks for them. As far as the current contract and what will happen, I am sure we will get more pay cuts. But, there does sound like there will be some negotiations because a lot of what they are asking for is over the amount they are asking from the judge. Some of it will never come to fruition, although a lot will. Hey, we are in bankruptcy----it suks. I am more pleased about our sudden change in revenue priorities----actually trying to make some money to keep this thing afloat. New European routes may help. And, I am not happy with our past management decisions, but the guy incharge of yeild management and new routes is a new guy, and new blood may help too.


Bye Bye--General Lee
 
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It looks like the JFK-SNN-DUB-JFK; ATL-SNN-DUB-ATL;and JFK-MAN flights are going to be 764s with 277 coach seats.
 
Mu2Driver said:
It looks like the JFK-SNN-DUB-JFK; ATL-SNN-DUB-ATL;and JFK-MAN flights are going to be 764s with 277 coach seats.

I think one of the articles said "you can never have enough seats to Ireland in the Summer." I think we had a 777 on the ATL--DUB--SNN flights last year, but now the excess 777s will go to TLV. I think the 764 is a good fit, and I believe they will be upgraded with newer seats and maybe Business Elite. Right now I think the only competition from NY to Manchester is a daily BA 767 and a hodgepodge of different PIA 74Ms and 772s from JFK, and maybe a CAL 777 from EWR.


Bye Bye--General Lee
 
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Interesting to see how this works, especially if and when a lower cost airline (like former PeoplExpress) starts service across the Atlantic.

Undoubtly this would lead to more seats and erode yields.
 

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