Originally Posted by
dieuwer2
Considering that flights from the East Coast to rinky-dink Western Cow-towns via SLC are usually very expensive compared to UA/CO, it seems DL already has given up on the western market.
Perhaps DL should consider increasing capacity and lower fares at/thru SLC to attract more pax:
BOS-ATL, 11x daily
BOS-MSP, 6x daily
BOS-SLC, 2x daily
Your statement about high prices actually supports the value of the rinky-dink cow towns to DL. If the fares are high, then Delta is making $$$. UA is the main competitor in my home city and DL competes well with them price wise and the planes are full. For the entire state of MT for 2010 YTD, DL-DLCX have a 42.4% market share and UA-UACX have a 23% market share. Add in AS (Horizon) having 15% share, delta and its Skymile partners have a 57.4% share of MT. That hardly sounds like giving up on the Western market. My source is
http://www.mdt.mt.gov/publications/d...dings-2010.pdf
I sure we would all love to fly anywhere super cheap but a strategy of increasing capacity and lowering fares at SLC as you suggest doesnt sound sustainable for DL.
If BOS-SLC was super lucrative Im sure a LCC would have jumped on it already. This could happen since WN is at both airports already. Unfortunately WN doing BOS-SLC will not lower cow-town prices because WN wont fly to the cowtowns.
Happy Flying
Swinster