Originally Posted by
3Cforme
The fortress hub argument really doesn't work. ATL, DTW and MSP have among the lowest fractions of O and D traffic among major U.S. hubs - although not as low as CLT. Most of the people traveling via those Delta hubs are connecting, and Delta has to be price and schedule- competitive with other one-stop options. Haters - and AA and UA management - don't like it but Delta runs a successful revenue management operation.
I don't predict that all of the new domestic D1 routes and frequencies will work (let's see the schedule a year after ops start) but it does show a strategy to compete with JetBlue Mint - in contrast to United's complete abandonment of JFK and Alaska's plan for 40-inch F seat pitch on 2500 mile flights.
As Scott Kirby said, the O&D stuff now don't generate as much profit as the connection traffic due to all of the LCC competition. ATL/DTW/MSP are completely captive market where Delta make a fortune a monopoly routes. In JFK and LAX, Delta margins are really low due to competition and their desires to fight for corporate contracts. They are trying to move in on BOS now, but B6 just kills them on yields on many of the routes.
And outside of 1 daily 75S on JFK-LAS, they have made no change in physical equipments on these 3 routes.