View From the Wing

Delta Air Lines confirmed during its second quarter earnings call a plan for ‘basic business.’ Just like they have ‘unbundled’ economy class, offering basic economy that doesn’t allow changes or mileage-earning and where you don’t get to pick your own seat, they view ‘unbundling’ of the features of business class a new step in maximizing revenue from customers.

J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Baker asked Delta President Glen Hauenstein about the idea during the call,
"Glen, this concept of unbundling the front cabin is one that I’ve been thinking about, in part because unbundling and segmenting the rear cabin has been such a success for Delta and a few others. I want to be careful about asking about future pricing on that. But I’m curious what the pros and cons are in terms of possibly going down this path? Or is one price for all how we should continue to think about the D One cabin?"

Hauenstein confirmed that they’re planning a basic business product, and that they’ll be announcing it at their Investor Day this fall, “We’ve talked conceptually about that. I think we’ll be giving you more details as we go, but we’re not ready to talk about the details of those plans moving forward. I think the investor day this year should be very exciting.”