Ed Bastian Thoughts on SLC Hub/Possible Asia
Jan 23, 2019, 4:06 pm
#61
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Recapping this thread:
Asia -- doesn't make sense due to LAX and SEA (and why start a long/thin route out of SLC)
Europe -- doesn't make sense due to DTW, ATL, JFK (already have the CDG/AMS covered and DL provides one-stop via east coast hubs to other Europe cities)
South America -- doesn't make sense due to LAX and ATL (plus limited traffic)
So what exactly does Ed intend to do with this hypothetical SLC hub?
Asia -- doesn't make sense due to LAX and SEA (and why start a long/thin route out of SLC)
Europe -- doesn't make sense due to DTW, ATL, JFK (already have the CDG/AMS covered and DL provides one-stop via east coast hubs to other Europe cities)
South America -- doesn't make sense due to LAX and ATL (plus limited traffic)
So what exactly does Ed intend to do with this hypothetical SLC hub?
Look, South America was a ridiculous idea. That happens sometimes in public forums, get over it. But SLC can support flights to major JV hubs such as AMS, CDG, MEX and ICN. Three of them are already in place and working well. I expect the 4th one is coming soon.
Last edited by 3Cforme; Jan 23, 2019 at 4:59 pm Reason: derogatory remark redacted
Jan 23, 2019, 4:38 pm
#63
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Recapping this thread:
Asia -- doesn't make sense due to LAX and SEA (and why start a long/thin route out of SLC)
Europe -- doesn't make sense due to DTW, ATL, JFK (already have the CDG/AMS covered and DL provides one-stop via east coast hubs to other Europe cities)
South America -- doesn't make sense due to LAX and ATL (plus limited traffic)
So what exactly does Ed intend to do with this hypothetical SLC hub?
Asia -- doesn't make sense due to LAX and SEA (and why start a long/thin route out of SLC)
Europe -- doesn't make sense due to DTW, ATL, JFK (already have the CDG/AMS covered and DL provides one-stop via east coast hubs to other Europe cities)
South America -- doesn't make sense due to LAX and ATL (plus limited traffic)
So what exactly does Ed intend to do with this hypothetical SLC hub?
second they add things that actually make sense. SLC-ICN will happen at some point because its a hub to hub route. Other than hub to hub international routes, SLC will keep right on doing what has been, a great domestic hub connect east and west and giving Delta a place to serve the mountain west from.
There is absolutely no reason for Delta to try terrible ideas like GRU, GIG, GUM, EZE, PEK, HKG, ZRH, FCO, etc etc. Thats not the point of the hub.
Oh and Delta also has LHR flights.
Their is basically zero local demand to GRU (much less GIG/EZE) from SLC. Hell American can't even get LAX-GRU to work.
Jan 23, 2019, 5:53 pm
#64
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Sorry by hypothetical I mean hypothetical international hub which is the essence of this thread.
Of course it continues to be a strong and important domestic hub -- no argument from me there
Of course it continues to be a strong and important domestic hub -- no argument from me there
Jan 23, 2019, 6:00 pm
#65
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So the current 6 daily international flights does not qualify as an international hub. But if DL were to add one more, then it would qualify as an international hub?? Interesting logic there
Jan 23, 2019, 6:53 pm
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Jan 23, 2019, 7:10 pm
#67
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Jan 23, 2019, 7:29 pm
#68
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He said a flight to ICN. Even with that I would consider SLC with AMS/LHR/CDG and a possible ICN (plus MEX and Canada flights) an international hub. It certainly will never be something like JFK, SEA, LAX, ATL or DTW but it would offer the local market one-stop flights to basically anywhere in the world.
Also it would have a comparable long haul network to DEN which is basically what Delta wants SLC to be but not as large.
Apr 4, 2019, 9:34 am
#69
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The ongoing $3.6 billion rebuild of Salt Lake City International Airport should give Delta Air Lines and its hub there a big competitive advantage in the West, a top airline official said Wednesday. “We’re going to look back on it and go, ‘That was money well spent,’” Holden Shannon, Delta’s senior vice president of real estate, told a convention of the Airports Council International, meeting at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. He added that the new airport “is remarkable.”
...“The most important project we have is Salt Lake City, right here,” he said. The project, Shannon added, will make what had been considered airport palaces “look like a cottage” — and should make Utah’s capital the hub that passengers prefer in the West.
...
Shannon said new Salt Lake City terminals will include more seats, all with access to power plug-ins, and more area for lines at check-in — instead of obstructing crowded hallways. Also, the airport will be designed to allow international passengers to more freely use biometrics — such as eye scans — to avoid the need to present passports in different areas. He said Salt Lake City will have a new Delta Sky Club that “will be an amazing amenity. It will have almost 30,000 square feet and gorgeous views of the mountains.”
Last edited by amanuensis; Apr 4, 2019 at 11:55 am
Apr 6, 2019, 4:53 am
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when I go to WAS my destination is usually Towson. If the fare is even vaguely the same there is zero chance I am choosing IAD over BWI simply because IAD has a nicer lounge option. (I have certainly flown into or out of IAD or DCA but either because there was an enormous fare difference or I had some reason to be in the DC area before or after heading north)
Apr 6, 2019, 7:00 am
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Apr 6, 2019, 2:27 pm
#73
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While it wouldn’t be my first choice (or anywhere near the top of the list) MDT is only an hour twenty from Towson, MD. Depending on the day and time of day that is a better drive time than from DCA, definitely IAD, and, on the worst of days, BWI.
Apr 6, 2019, 3:18 pm
#74
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I was comparing: (1) the distance between Towson and DCA, which is 60 miles, requiring driving on the always potentially nightmarish Baltimore Beltway, either I-95 or the Baltimore/Washington Parkway/Kenilworth Avenue and Southeast/Southwest Freeways, which can be an absolute nightmare; (2) 74 miles between Towson and IAD, which involves the aforementioned I-695 Baltimore Beltway, I-95, the I-495 Capital Beltway through its curvy portion between Silver Spring and the Potomac River, the often clogged American Legion bridge, and then some relief with the final 17 miles or so on the toll-free Dulles Access Road; or (3) 75 miles between MDT, in Middletown, PA, southeast of Harrisburg, involving the Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge over the Susquehanna River, then about 60 miles south on relatively smooth flowing I-83, requiring only one or two exits on the I-695 eastbound for downtown Towson (which is not a city, but an unincorporated business district where the Baltimore County Courthouse and a fairly large state university are located). If you needed to get to or from an airport from a location in Towson or the north suburbs of Baltimore and these were your choices, MDT stacks up pretty well, wouldn't you think?
Last edited by ND76; Apr 6, 2019 at 3:49 pm
Apr 6, 2019, 4:05 pm
#75
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I was comparing: (1) the distance between Towson and DCA, which is 60 miles, requiring driving on the always potentially nightmarish Baltimore Beltway, either I-95 or the Baltimore/Washington Parkway/Kenilworth Avenue and Southeast/Southwest Freeways, which can be an absolute nightmare; (2) 74 miles between Towson and IAD, which involves the aforementioned I-695 Baltimore Beltway, I-95, the I-495 Capital Beltway through its curvy portion between Silver Spring and the Potomac River, the often clogged American Legion bridge, and then some relief with the final 17 miles or so on the toll-free Dulles Access Road; or (3) 75 miles between MDT, in Middletown, PA, southeast of Harrisburg, involving the Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge over the Susquehanna River, then about 60 miles south on relatively smooth flowing I-83, requiring only one or two exits on the I-695 eastbound for downtown Towson (which is not a city, but an unincorporated business district where the Baltimore County Courthouse and a fairly large state university are located). If you needed to get to or from an airport from a location in Towson or the north suburbs of Baltimore and these were your choices, MDT stacks up pretty well, wouldn't you think?