Originally Posted by
manacit
Ultimately DL might think they can bide their time and keep growing corporate accounts and local traffic while building up a trans-pacific network, but if their strategy is going to take 10 or 20 years to roll, that's a long payback period - especially if the economy slows down at some point in the next couple of decades.
Delta is playing the long game in SEA. While the unit revenue numbers may be the lowest of all its hubs, it is also not one of its most expensive hubs to operate from. It is not in any imminent danger of being closed. Remember that it took them more than 20 years to turn a profit in New York (acquired Pan Am’s ops in 1991 and finally turned a profit in NY in 2014). SEA is still an important part of the overall strategy; it still has a strong corporate base, still has demand growth potential, and has limited gate space (which limits other potential new entrants). Recent actions also show Delta has no intention of retreating from SEA:
- adding SEA-DFW for summer 2024
- chose to increase SEA-PVG to daily when more China frequencies became available, ahead of DTW-PVG and ahead of adding back LAX-PVG
- continuing with the addition of a brand new, second large (24,500 square feet) SkyClub (scheduled to open mid-2024).