Delta has a list of focus cities, and some are surprising
Jun 4, 2019, 5:32 pm
#76
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ATL as an airport is absolutely amazing, DLs operations at ATL are less then stellar.
Jun 4, 2019, 5:41 pm
#77
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A good majority of gate agents are basically just awful in ATL. Check in on the domestic side is an absolute joke for sky priority or regular (to the point now that at airports like MLU, ROA, and other very small airports) have the same amount of people at check in for sky priority working as ATL does these days.
ATL as an airport is absolutely amazing, DLs operations at ATL are less then stellar.
ATL as an airport is absolutely amazing, DLs operations at ATL are less then stellar.
Jun 4, 2019, 5:42 pm
#78
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Jun 4, 2019, 6:56 pm
#79
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IND had been a long standing focus city dating back to the NW days. I suspect it’s now at the point where DL is happy with their business and capacity there, though.
I think it’s worth reiterating this is just an internal label. Once upon a time, the “focus city” designation mattered because it determined cities where connections were permitted in routing rules in fares. But now, DL almost always publishes specific constructed routes, and those lists of cities don't match the designations anymore. (For example, LAS sometimes shows up as a permitted connecting city, but AUS and RDU rarely seem to.)
Jun 4, 2019, 11:23 pm
#80
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I was gonna post this also, but the ONLY way I see DL considering a skyclub at SJC is if they were to add Europe and Asia flights. In which case, those flights would use the international arrivals area, which is not convenient from Gate 7. So even in the most optimistic scenario, I don't see DL having much interest in the gate 7 location. To me, in that most optimistic scenario, DL hands out free passes for The Club to its international J passengers.
Jun 5, 2019, 1:04 am
#81
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To clarify my earlier comment re: PVG, was talking about UA's SFO-PVG route (2x daily 787s). Versus making folks connect via LAX.
Now, on the topic of connections/routings, RDU makes perfect sense to allow routings through; it's 400 mi from ATL and while smaller planes mean more cost per seat mile the smaller size of the airport/potentially shorter flight time/potentially shorter reasonable connection time may make a routing worth it.
Whereas, sure, you *could* connect through BOS but it's the wrong place on the map for anything other than international. Same with JFK/LGA; they are and will be heavily O&D focused 'til the end of time. Which explains why Delta hasn't been scrambling to get out of JFK T2.
By contrast, SJC might actually be in a decent spot for connections in that area (again, avoiding LAX), and Delta already carries a pretty good chunk of passenger traffic considering how few destinations they currently serve. When you combine mainline and regional (since Compass exclusively flies for Delta), they're actually bigger than AS there, despite all the destinations AS serves, so if DL wants to take the fight to AS in yet another city there's nothing stopping them.
As for AUS, I doubt we'll get used for connections much. Yes, we're central, but from what I hear DL only wants five or six gates, and they have plenty of O&D traffic to pull from...and we're pretty far south (though no worse than HOU/IAH). Maybe SJA-AUS-RDU would work though
s it stands, upgauging seems to be happening quite quickly. RDU is back to a CR9, and 717s are gone from both DTW and MSP, at least for now. ATL is all-A321, and basically the only actual hub served by a regional jet now is SLC (and even then the majority of flights are mainline). Seems like DL is content to bump up aircraft size as soon as they hit 3x daily service to anywhere, rather than adding frequency, and of course longer routes get bumped up sooner than that because they're competing against full-sized planes flying relatively rarely. Maybe their plan is to siphon off what's currently connecting traffic into 1x daily point-to-point routes and bump those hub routes back down size-wise as a result...though that's riskier to do now that they're competing with F9/NK/WN on basically all of them.
Now, on the topic of connections/routings, RDU makes perfect sense to allow routings through; it's 400 mi from ATL and while smaller planes mean more cost per seat mile the smaller size of the airport/potentially shorter flight time/potentially shorter reasonable connection time may make a routing worth it.
Whereas, sure, you *could* connect through BOS but it's the wrong place on the map for anything other than international. Same with JFK/LGA; they are and will be heavily O&D focused 'til the end of time. Which explains why Delta hasn't been scrambling to get out of JFK T2.
By contrast, SJC might actually be in a decent spot for connections in that area (again, avoiding LAX), and Delta already carries a pretty good chunk of passenger traffic considering how few destinations they currently serve. When you combine mainline and regional (since Compass exclusively flies for Delta), they're actually bigger than AS there, despite all the destinations AS serves, so if DL wants to take the fight to AS in yet another city there's nothing stopping them.
As for AUS, I doubt we'll get used for connections much. Yes, we're central, but from what I hear DL only wants five or six gates, and they have plenty of O&D traffic to pull from...and we're pretty far south (though no worse than HOU/IAH). Maybe SJA-AUS-RDU would work though
s it stands, upgauging seems to be happening quite quickly. RDU is back to a CR9, and 717s are gone from both DTW and MSP, at least for now. ATL is all-A321, and basically the only actual hub served by a regional jet now is SLC (and even then the majority of flights are mainline). Seems like DL is content to bump up aircraft size as soon as they hit 3x daily service to anywhere, rather than adding frequency, and of course longer routes get bumped up sooner than that because they're competing against full-sized planes flying relatively rarely. Maybe their plan is to siphon off what's currently connecting traffic into 1x daily point-to-point routes and bump those hub routes back down size-wise as a result...though that's riskier to do now that they're competing with F9/NK/WN on basically all of them.
Jun 5, 2019, 9:08 am
#82
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By contrast, SJC might actually be in a decent spot for connections in that area (again, avoiding LAX), and Delta already carries a pretty good chunk of passenger traffic considering how few destinations they currently serve. When you combine mainline and regional (since Compass exclusively flies for Delta), they're actually bigger than AS there, despite all the destinations AS serves, so if DL wants to take the fight to AS in yet another city there's nothing stopping them.
A couple huge issues for expanding your operations out of SJC is that the terminal is linear in that with the exception of gates 1 and 2, the other soon to be 34 gates are all in a straight line. Also, you can not land or takeoff between 11:30 PM and 6:30 AM the next day unless your plane is really quiet or you are willing to pay a fine. IIRC, the A220 meets the noise criteria.
Compass has a maintenance facility at SJC, so that is helpful. But, there are rumors that DL wants to ditch Compass as well.
Jun 5, 2019, 9:11 am
#83
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By contrast, SJC might actually be in a decent spot for connections in that area (again, avoiding LAX), and Delta already carries a pretty good chunk of passenger traffic considering how few destinations they currently serve. When you combine mainline and regional (since Compass exclusively flies for Delta), they're actually bigger than AS there, despite all the destinations AS serves
Jun 5, 2019, 9:14 am
#84
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While I tend to agree, I could also see them building one if they got serious about building up D1 transcon options there. Remember that DL built a brand new beautiful Sky Club at SFO for a terminal that does not offer any DL flights to Europe or Asia.
Jun 5, 2019, 9:18 am
#85
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I can't, in my wildest dreams, imagine multiple daily D1 transcons.
Jun 5, 2019, 9:20 am
#86
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I can't see them expanding to cities based on a cities tech sector. My megacorp is using technology in an attempt to eliminate as much travel as possible and we are a technology company. I believe more and more companies are doing the same thing. My boss has been telling me for over a year that he is trying to eliminate my travel as much as possible. My days as a DM are probably numbered.
traveling to customers is THE most important thing you can do for them. Anybody can hide behind a phone and email but if you are not seeing your customers I assure you that your competition is seeing them in person to snag them from you.
I have something I try to remember often “had a bad email? Pick up the phone. Had a bad call? Get on a plane”
maybe its just me?
Jun 5, 2019, 9:20 am
#87
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Jun 5, 2019, 9:25 am
#88
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Now, on the topic of connections/routings, RDU makes perfect sense to allow routings through; it's 400 mi from ATL and while smaller planes mean more cost per seat mile the smaller size of the airport/potentially shorter flight time/potentially shorter reasonable connection time may make a routing worth it.
That being said, RDUAA (Airport Authority) reported only 1,877 connections in April (and it's actually down 28% YoY). I'm not sure how they measure that (seems low to me), but if that's accurate and the vast majority of those are DL pax, that's only like 60 connects per day. Makes up ~1% of DL's overall pax.
There's really only the morning and evening p2p flights that offer decent connection opportunities.
Jun 5, 2019, 9:34 am
#89
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A good majority of gate agents are basically just awful in ATL. Check in on the domestic side is an absolute joke for sky priority or regular (to the point now that at airports like MLU, ROA, and other very small airports) have the same amount of people at check in for sky priority working as ATL does these days.
ATL as an airport is absolutely amazing, DLs operations at ATL are less then stellar.
ATL as an airport is absolutely amazing, DLs operations at ATL are less then stellar.
Jun 5, 2019, 9:43 am
#90
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