Originally Posted by
ethernal
It's surprising to me that Delta would be looking to start this route. This would mean DL services to PVG from five airports: LAX, SEA, ATL, DTW, and MSP (not even including all of their routes from their pseudo-JV with China Eastern).
Based on how Delta has been pricing its PVG routes out of LAX, DTW, and ATL, it seems like their loads are not that high. Seems odd that they would want to add even more capacity to PVG given this fact. But who knows, maybe they see more demand coming down the pike. I guess they expect big things from China Eastern?
I agree with Ethernal's doubt above as a BOS-based UA flyer who flies to PVG frequently. It is clear to me that PVG market might have been flooded with way more capacity by AA/UA/DL/AC along with the Chinese carriers and other carriers competing for the connection traffic (KE, OZ and to some extent even CX). The price in coach for BOS-PVG roundtrip has been stable around $500 to $800 year round (save for the specific peak travel time like Christmas or summer peak). I wonder how much money the airlines are making on these PVG routes. For DL, except for LAX, the other four markets (SEA, DTW, MSP and ATL) with nonstop to PVG do not have great O&D passengers to Shanghai, either, which means more competition for the connecting traffic in the bloodbath.....