Originally Posted by
GYEWorldTraveler
Capacity discipline and shrinking are not the same thing. I think they have been doing a pretty good job of cutting excess capacity and forming lucrative partnerships to fill in the gaps. I guess time will tell but it would be pretty ridiculous to have expected DL to try and grow and add capacity in a down economy with the network they already have in place.
Delta has been shrinking domestically for years, well before the current economic downturn. The GFC did manage to wreck the Delta plan to grow internationally.
People on this forum get all puffed up about themselves being a HVC when they fly on a $2000 ticket and laugh at the "kettle" flying in the back on a $200 ticket. In an industry with extremely high fixed costs, that $200 ticket is often the difference between profit and loss. You may laugh and sneer at the $200 ticket, but after all it is Delta that willingly offered it up for sale. I have yet to see anybody walk up to a ticket counter with a gun and force Delta to sell them a cheap ticket.
I will admit, Delta's 3rd quarter profit margin was 7.7% which is pretty darned good for this industry in today's climate. 4th quarter numbers are not out yet.
I will guess that Delta is not as willing to write off their LVCs to the extent that you and others on this forum seem are. I suspect Delta believes that most of them will have nowhere else to go. Delta is quite likely correct.
David