Originally Posted by
william
I remember the thinking Delta was going to mop up Alaska in SEA with their new hub. At last count, AS has 49% market share DL 20%. And now Delta is all of a sudden going to ride into AUS and takeover the place, SWA, UA and AA is just going to roll over? AUS is not going to make up for the horrible business decision of closing the DFW hub and its brand recognition in Texas.
Love the Club in Austin though, its quiet first thing in the morning.
Shame to read about HRL, I was going to take advantage of those $98 RT fares.
AA is actively retreating in AUS, not because of Delta - and United has no stake in Austin. WN is losing market share via wanting to charge that of a legacy but be a LCC (it doesn’t work). I would bet by the time the new terminal comes up in AUS Delta will end up becoming #1 in the city.
Secondly, DL doesn’t need to push AS out of SEA. SEA is a peg in Delta grand network, while it’s all Alaska really has. Delta’s ATL hub alone likely profits multitudes over Alaska’s entire network/operation. All to say, Delta doesn’t need to “conquer” SEA - just use it as an Asian gateway. AS has also been there over 7 decades and Delta about a quarter of that. In that time Delta has risen to 20% despite an entrenched competitor and AS fallen from 51 to 49% (marginal). These things take time, but I for one don’t believe the combined AS+HA will make a difference for AS - their intl. network plans will be extremely slim margins.
Delta absolutely wants a TX presence. It was DFW. But, they consolidated operations in ATL and having DL’s ATL is more valuable than any TX hub - so I don’t think they regret it. An ATL + AUS combo compliments nicely. Alleviate ATL congestion/make room for growth, offer west of Mississippi River connections, capture the fastest growing city (past several years) O&D, and offer a better Latin America gateway.