Originally Posted by
craz
I wish DOT would compel DL to keep flying this route for a full year from the date they restarted it. I cant but think that DL all along knew they would throw in the towel right after the Summer Peak Season was over. Or at least hit them with a tremendous fine for playing around intentionally and as a warning to the other acrriers what will befall them if they follow suit by demanding to keep aroute when they know they will dump it right after the main season is over
No I have no proof that this was DLs plan all along but if it was lossing $$ on it now they would have walked away now and not after the summers high season
I strongly suspect that DL knew all along that they wouldn't keep operating the route if the DOT held steady on the demand to make it year-round, but they had no reason to show that weak card until the final order was out. They were clearly hoping that the DOT would cave and let DL continue to keep the route effectively dormant all winter.
As for a warning shot to other carriers: I can't think of another route that is both highly competitive for slots and marginally-at-best profitable at least part of the year. HND is a weird situation, since the airlines all hope/expect that the restrictive slot times will eventually go away and think that being in the market now is important to be able to pounce once commercially-optimal times are allowed.