Originally Posted by
cerealmarketer
Except JetBlue everyone with sub 1200 mile stage lengths is showing 20%+ margins. And everyone above 1200 miles is below 18%.
And guess what...UA has the longest stage length by a long shot, Hawaiian and Virgin aside (and that's long been the case).
UA's longer mainline stage length isn't necessarily customer-friendly. It reflects much greater use of RJs (and particularly single-class RJs) on too-long routes where others use mainline. Fly all the 'short' stuff with regional jets and the mainline average goes up.
DL has a rule (now nearly five years old) where domestic flights >750 miles get two-class planes - not CR2s or ERJs. DL has 75-ish 717s running 'short' routes bringing down its average, among other fleet assignments.