Ed Bastian Thoughts on SLC Hub/Possible Asia
Jan 18, 2019, 5:51 pm
#1
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Ed Bastian Thoughts on SLC Hub/Possible Asia
Jan 18, 2019, 6:15 pm
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Quoting from the article that Happy Dad linked to:
Additional details provided by Bastian are that that the Skyclub in the new SLC airport will be 3X the size of the existing one and that SLC will be a base for the A220.
He let slip in comments to the Salt Lake Chamber that will likely lead to nonstop flights to Seoul, South Korea.
“I was discussing the possibilities, not making any announcement,” he said later in an interview. “But there’s no question that the new airport will create more international opportunity, and one of the things I’d like to be able to do is create an Asian route.”He adds Delta attempted that once unsuccessfully with flights from Salt Lake City to Tokyo.
“The principal reason it did not work is that when people got to Tokyo, there were limited destinations” for connections. But Korean Air, a Delta partner, “offers 80 destinations throughout Asia on a nonstop basis out of Seoul.”
“I was discussing the possibilities, not making any announcement,” he said later in an interview. “But there’s no question that the new airport will create more international opportunity, and one of the things I’d like to be able to do is create an Asian route.”He adds Delta attempted that once unsuccessfully with flights from Salt Lake City to Tokyo.
“The principal reason it did not work is that when people got to Tokyo, there were limited destinations” for connections. But Korean Air, a Delta partner, “offers 80 destinations throughout Asia on a nonstop basis out of Seoul.”
Jan 18, 2019, 6:20 pm
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SLC-ICN would be a good move for DL. It would be much less competitive (thus they can have higher prices) than the west coast to ICN and afford people good connections to and from for the rest of the US.
Jan 18, 2019, 6:38 pm
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I think any flight would be O/D focused. I don't know a lot of people who want to take a 3hr+ domestic flight to connect to a TPAC flight.
Jan 18, 2019, 6:43 pm
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Jan 18, 2019, 7:05 pm
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I see the only new flights DL adds to Asia will be from US gateways to ICN and PVG to feed their JV partners. I don't see any new cities in Asia being added to DL's network unless they get a new JV partner. I mean when you give up HKG, you are probably not looking to add new Asian destinations strictly for O/D traffic.
Jan 19, 2019, 4:48 am
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What cities - with decent numbers of travelers to Asia - have DL service to SLC but not SEA or LAX? Double connects xxx-SLC-ICN-xxx will yield junk avg fares: UA's xxx-SFO-xxx will get the premium traffic from shorter travel times. DL is going to need some decent volume of traffic SLC-ICN or SLC-xxx to make this viable.
Jan 19, 2019, 10:01 am
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What cities - with decent numbers of travelers to Asia - have DL service to SLC but not SEA or LAX? Double connects xxx-SLC-ICN-xxx will yield junk avg fares: UA's xxx-SFO-xxx will get the premium traffic from shorter travel times. DL is going to need some decent volume of traffic SLC-ICN or SLC-xxx to make this viable.
Jan 19, 2019, 10:14 am
#12
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I'm not sure about that. The SLC SC is pretty bleak. I'd rather have a layover in SEA at least outbound (inbound international is a different story) but then again coming from RDU I'd go via ATL / DTW / MSP for a TPAC before going through LAX / SLC / SEA (exception SYD obviously)
Jan 19, 2019, 10:22 am
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I can't see it happening any time soon. The A332 struggled on even SLC-NRT and had to have have cargo and seats blocked. If it happens it will be with a Korean Air 787.
Jan 19, 2019, 10:39 am
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What cities - with decent numbers of travelers to Asia - have DL service to SLC but not SEA or LAX? Double connects xxx-SLC-ICN-xxx will yield junk avg fares: UA's xxx-SFO-xxx will get the premium traffic from shorter travel times. DL is going to need some decent volume of traffic SLC-ICN or SLC-xxx to make this viable.
SLC has a loyal base of DL FF's who would choose it to HKG connecting in ICN over connecting in SFO on UA.
Ed might also be thinking that LAX-ICN (twice daily on KE) and SEA-ICN (twice daily split DL and KE) would continue to be busy enough to allow SLC to siphon off a little connecting traffic from those gateways to ICN.
That plus a nice subsidy would not hurt.