Originally Posted by
youngdlplat
Here's the view from the MEM paper.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...m-flight-next/
As the paper notes, just last year DL and MEM celebrated how successful the flight had been. And as posters in the article note, the flight was supposedly profitable for a long, long time. I took that flight many times, and it was always packed.
Many people like to avoid the insanity of customs at ATL, JFK etc. I find it very hard to believe there wasn't a very tangible, solid market for this flight. But of course once DL also cut all of the connections (as if passengers in ATL aren't connecting!), no one who took the MEM-AMS flight could get where they needed to go in the US if it weren't MEM (nor could they get to MEM to feed the flight).
Am I right to think the only reason a flight that successfully operated daily for 17 years became untenable was solely because of decisions DL made? The whole thing strikes me as ridiculous.
DL forever has thought that it will eventually outmuscle FEDEX's influence on MEM, this is another case of it throwing its toys out of the pram. It is the team Fedex that has been touting (recently) MEM to Frontier, Jetblue and Southwest (sigh!). DL obviously looks at MEM as a disposable hub mainly because of its proximity to ATL and it is this decision making that will eventually lead to DL looking at becoming the new Sony Electronics of Airlines.
I love flying on DL as much as the next guy on this forum, but this kind of mentality will make DL lose the market it has in the south eventually. Its not like ATL has space to expand, and its not like MEM is limited in capacity.
Star Alliance will look to gain from this, disturbingly so!.
Interesting comment from a Delta Does Memphis Fan in the article:
Delta bought Northwest to eliminate competition, not to improve service or lower consumer prices.
The fact is with no sizeable competitor in the Memphis market and no viable alternative within 100 miles, Delta knew they would be able to hollow out their Memphis-based coverage without risking losing significant business.
Diverting regional flights to and thru their Atlanta hub was always Delta's goal. Draining Memphis of its passenger traffic allows Delta to utilize the capacity already on hand in Altanta and cut jobs in Memphis by eliminating consumer options. Delta need not fear that customers will take their money elsewhere, because they eliminated the competition.
We can see their plan was to promise stabily (lie) while following a plan of steadily cutting back flights under the guise of suddenly discovering cost savings. Delta knew from the start that the merger would allow them to save money by shifting flights to Atlanta, but they dare not state that goal from the start for fear of the backlash that has now arrived. I expect the cutbacks will continue as will the price hikes.
Memphis' plight is a perfect example of why anti-trust (monopoly blocking) laws exist. From a business perspective, Delta as done an excellent job of cornering the market and turning the screw.
Demand is more of less constant, supply has been and will continue to be cut, and so prices & profit will rise at the expense of the consumer.
Fewer flight choices, more mandatory connections, longer overall flight times, reduced tourism and higher costs for everyone in the area. More profit for Delta.
Delta Does Memphis.
Hard to disagree with anything there.