youngdlplat

There's an interesting article in today's Memphis paper:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...artner=popular

Two things stand out to me: (1) Mayor Wharton says he will be able to say more "in a few weeks." I wonder what announcement Delta and/or MEM will be making in a few weeks. (2) Apparently Richard Anderson told Wharton that MEM will become more profitable when the CR2s are replaced by 717s. I suspect having 717s would also make people more likely to connect through MEM. (Would 717s count as "mainline" aircraft?)

BearX220

Yes, 717s are mainline, but when you replace 50-seat aircraft with 100-seat aircraft in a marginal market, you're going to see even fewer frequencies.

hazelrah

Let's hope he's flying Air Tran to save the taxpayers some money.

Dovster

Probably that Delta is establishing a new, super, elite Medallion status that is available only to MEM mayors.

PRWeezer

Elvis Medallion? He'll get a white card with gold & silver studs and even a tiny cape! When not in use, the card fits nicely into a custom belt buckle.

readywhenyouare

Oh wow, what is the mayor trying to do? The residents of Memphis and the Memphis media have treated Delta horribly. Delta has every reason in the world to tell them to piss off. The mayor needs to focus on reducing the cities crime rate seeing as it is in the top five most dangerous cities in the nation. Typical Memphis politics....I see not much has changed since I left that place.

• Delta just eliminated 25 more flights
• Only 23 flights on Saturday starting this fall
• Delta no longer has any pilot base at MEM
• Pinnacle is in Bankruptcy and facing harsh times with labor
• MEM has weak O/D

Time to face reality...

Valveking

You keep saying this. What do you mean? A few people complaining on Facebook? The powers that be around here have been absolutely grovelling at Delta's feet so they wouldn't close the hub down. As a mid sized city, it has been nice over the last twenty or so years to have a decent sized hub in our city. The flipside of that is that we have been paying exorbitant fares which discourage O and D traffic especially considering that Memphis is not a rich city. Also don't forget that Delta lied during the merger about downsizing the CVG and MEM hubs so that they could get approval.

I for one will welcome the 717's. Anything is better than the CRJ 200's. Those things are a flying torture chamber.

hazelrah

Perhaps the Mayor would be most productive by taking a trip to Dallas instead.

MEM had a good run with Northwest but better to focus on the future and not the past.

ssk1127

What would MEM gain by talking to WN? Service to even fewer cities, less F seats for business travelers, and no hope for being a focus city.

hazelrah

MEM's days are numbered anyway IMO. In the future it will just have service to Delta hubs.

Service to Southwest cities (ATL, MDW, DEN, BWI, DAL, etc. ) would be as good as it gets.

readywhenyouare

Yes, and not just a few people. There was a Facebook GROUP created for Memphians to hate Delta. Not to mention most all of the media reports seem to have been written with a bias against Delta.

As far as the 717 goes I can only imagine it's role in MEM will be for flights to the hubs and perhaps maybe a daily flight to LGA and MCO.


^ Exactly. The airport authority should try attracting some LCC service. Spirit seems like a good fit...

Spiff

Fine by me. CR2s (and CR1s) are the worst aircraft in the fleet.

hazelrah

You seem to want to make this somehow personal. I don't think it's personal it's just Delta business.

In consolidation why did Delta need CVG as a midwest hub when DTW is a far superior midwest hub? Why does Delta need MEM when ATL is THE southeast hub? Now that Northwest is assimiliated these respective hubs raison d'etre has dissapeared.

elitetraveler

Domestic flying isn't driven by "F seats for business travelers." Frequency and low fares are want the people paying for business travel want.

GYEWorldTraveler

I will agree with frequency and some degree to low fares but WN really doesn't cater to a business traveler. Every quarter when US airlines post their results, the sucessful legacies usually report that it was due to business traffic. Business travel provides a very high percentage of revenue for airlines. Flying to BNA, DAL, MDW, DEN and BWI (if they did that) would really not offset the fact that the business traveler and road warrior wants nonstops to the big cities, guaranteed seating and service to remote or international markets in many cases. WN does not fit a business traveler unless you are only flying short flights from WN focus cities. I mean who really wants to do a double connect to get from MEM to SFO if they are traveling on business. Add to it lack of wifi, power and IFE and I think you have your recipe for a 1980s leisure market...