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Goodbye NRT-PVG, hello ATL-PVG

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Old Jul 19, 2017, 9:50 am
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by vincentharris
This is now the THIRD time DL is trying this route, after it failed terribly the last two times.

First time: Olympics so it was a "partnership plug"
Second time: who knows why? I flew it the second time they tried maybe 6-9 months before they cancelled it and the flight was no joke 10% full. EVERYBODY on board had their own row with plenty of empty rows in coach.

Why in the world do they think ATL-PVG is going to work a third time around? If anything do something like ATL-HKG, they would be the ONLY airline directly connecting HKG to the Southeast US. You can connect to way more of Asia out of HKG then PVG and not have to worry about all the transit visa junk too.
DL has a mature partnership with China Eastern. It will work this time.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 9:51 am
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Originally Posted by hockeyinsider
Delta's CEO, as recently as a couple months ago, said the airline remains committed to the "island" flights from Tokyo-Narita: Honolulu, Saipan, Palau, and Guam.

I also think Manila will remain because the Filipino-American community is dispersed so much that connecting through Tokyo-Narita accommodates passengers from multiple gateways.

Singapore is always full in business-class.
They are committed until they aren't.

I would expect to see in the coming years SEA (or LAX) to SIN and or MNL once the new SeaTac customs facility is completed.

Full planes don't mean they are getting a good yield (or as good as they could get elsewhere)

I just see DL somehow paying a bunch of $$$ to some airline to get 1-2 more HND slots and then moving the few remaining US-NRT flights to ICN once the KE JV is up and running
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 9:56 am
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
Money talks. Unlike airport incentives restricted in duration and amount by FAA regs, a private organization like MoA can subsidize a flight as richly and as long as it wants.

Fifth freedom rights are really from another era. Smaller aircraft with full TPAC range (think 777-200ER) killed NRT for UA and NW/DL. Death has been very slow in coming.
Yes and no.

Yes the foreign hubs are going. Can anybody even remember the hub at Frankfurt decades ago.

But Emirates seems to be finding some creative uses for fifth freedom rights. And those uses are irritating the crud out of the US3.

David
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 9:56 am
  #19  
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Originally Posted by woodford02A
DL has a mature partnership with China Eastern. It will work this time.
If it ends up like the last two times though I will be using that route to Asia strictly because of the likelihood it will be a near empty flight in both directions. nice to have "premium economy" by default because of having your own row.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:06 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by hockeyinsider
Is there actually something somewhere that says Delta is ending Narita-Shanghai? The press release doesn't say so.

Google Flights shows flights from NRT-PVG through June 2018.
No. I expect we won't see that happen until the requisite government approvals are received.

But there's a limited number of ways for this route to happen — eliminate SEA or DTW to PEK, or reallocate the NRT-PVG flight. In the press release, it listed the other flights to PVG that DL would operate, and NRT wasn't among them.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:09 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by kop84
They are committed until they aren't.

I would expect to see in the coming years SEA (or LAX) to SIN and or MNL once the new SeaTac customs facility is completed.

Full planes don't mean they are getting a good yield (or as good as they could get elsewhere)

I just see DL somehow paying a bunch of $$$ to some airline to get 1-2 more HND slots and then moving the few remaining US-NRT flights to ICN once the KE JV is up and running
Delta makes a lot of money on flights out of Japan to the islands--Hawaii, Saipan, Palau, Guam, as these are major tourist destinations for Japanese. Assuming it could get additional slots at HND, could it still do these routes? I don't know. I can't, however, imagine it would be anymore expensive to fly to the islands from HND.

Plus, the U.S. Marines are being relocated in the next couple of years from Japan to Guam, which means Delta will likely see an increase in demand from the mainland for flights to Guam. Guam probably can't support daily flights to/from the mainland, so it makes more sense to route them through the existing Delta network in Tokyo.

Last edited by hockeyinsider; Jul 19, 2017 at 10:17 am
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:17 am
  #22  
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Can we have the title modified? Right now PVG/NRT is pure speculation. Agree its likely, but its pure speculation at this point.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:21 am
  #23  
 
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Not at all surprised to see NRT-PVG axed (like so much else at NRT alas) for a US-PVG flight. Still liked the NRT hub though.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:27 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by ty97
Not at all surprised to see NRT-PVG axed (like so much else at NRT alas) for a US-PVG flight. Still liked the NRT hub though.
I feel bad for all the employees at NRT, who are among Delta's best. I remember then-CEO Richard Anderson's in-flight welcome video about two years ago. It was filmed in Narita and he disingenuously praised Narita's operations and employees all the while he was implementing plans to cut it back.

If only Japanese efficiency and Japanese customer service and etiquette could be the corporate standard everywhere else Delta flies.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:28 am
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Originally Posted by hockeyinsider
Delta makes a lot of money on flights out of Japan to the islands--Hawaii, Saipan, Palau, Guam, as these are major tourist destinations for Japanese. Assuming it could get additional slots at HND, could it still do these routes? I don't know. I can't, however, imagine it would be anymore expensive to fly to the islands from HND.

Plus, the U.S. Marines are being relocated in the next couple of years from Japan to Guam, which means Delta will likely see an increase in demand from the mainland for flights to Guam. Guam probably can't support daily flights to/from the mainland, so it makes more sense to route them through the existing Delta network in Tokyo.
The flights may be profitable, but is it profitable enough to pay for NRT staying at least a mini-hub? DL needs to have a lot more staff, maintenance, facilities, etc to run the inter-port flights.

NRT has to be teetering at this point. And who knows if DL would with the Government contract for GUM to the US.

I just really think that within 5 years, DL may not even be at NRT anymore. Japan's population is upside down with more old people than young people, and they aren't the outsized economic power they were in years past. Not that they're small, just that others around them have grown exponentially in the past 30 years.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:30 am
  #26  
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It's confirmed from DL internally that NRT-PVG is ending
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:45 am
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by hockeyinsider
I feel bad for all the employees at NRT, who are among Delta's best. I remember then-CEO Richard Anderson's in-flight welcome video about two years ago. It was filmed in Narita and he disingenuously praised Narita's operations and employees all the while he was implementing plans to cut it back.

If only Japanese efficiency and Japanese customer service and etiquette could be the corporate standard everywhere else Delta flies.
I feel bad for them as well, but DL has to do what makes business sense alas.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:55 am
  #28  
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Only moderately OT... I heard a rumor the other day of DL flying PHL (yes, PHL) to PEK.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:57 am
  #29  
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Originally Posted by hockeyinsider
I feel bad for all the employees at NRT, who are among Delta's best. I remember then-CEO Richard Anderson's in-flight welcome video about two years ago. It was filmed in Narita and he disingenuously praised Narita's operations and employees all the while he was implementing plans to cut it back.
It isn't disingenuous. I'm sure he appreciated the employees and the operational performance at NRT, but the reality has simply changed and it isn't viable as a hub.
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Old Jul 19, 2017, 10:58 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by StayingHomeIsBetter
Only moderately OT... I heard a rumor the other day of DL flying PHL (yes, PHL) to PEK.
There are no slots left for US carriers to fly to PVG/PEK, are there? If there were, no way DL is using one of those precious few slots on a PHL flight when not even AA has done so.

Plus look at the horrendous loads on the DL PHL-LHR 757. PHL is not ATL.
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