[QUOTE=ethernal;31282621
Delta has great operations - it is the best in the industry. That said, only a portion of its stats advantage is from that. A significant portion (likely a majority) of Delta's performance advantage over its peers has to do with the airports it flies out of. SLC, MSP, DTW, and to a lesser extent ATL are all low-congestion airports. LAX may be somewhat congested but is a good weather airport. SEA has gate issues but usually plenty of runway capacity and - occasional fog issues aside - decent WX.
Compare this to United as an example... they fly out of.. SFO (significant congestion, frequent fog), EWR (significant congestion), ORD (significant congestion). The only low-congestion hubs they have are IAH and DEN. IAD is somewhat in the middle (generally not directly runway constrained, but often ATC constrained due to spillover from the crowded NE corridor).
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DL's hubs crush the competitions in terms of helping their schedule/performance. I'd argue even their gate positions at ORD is beneficial as they seem to be easier to access than AA's. But it is nice when you don't have to consistently fly a 40 minute pattern to get on the ground, and then taxi another 20-30 minutes because the airport is huge with terrible ground layout requiring you to taxi the length of the runway 3 times plus go around the backside of the terminal, and then wait another 20 minutes for either your gate to open up or the alley to clear out the line of departing planes so you can actually get to your gate.