Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > Delta Air Lines | SkyMiles
Reload this Page >

Delta weak in Mountain-West despite SLC hub

Delta weak in Mountain-West despite SLC hub

Old Jun 15, 2021, 8:13 pm
  #106  
Suspended
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Orlando, FL Area
Programs: Delta SkySponge ExtraAbsorbent, SPG Gold
Posts: 29,988
You would think Delta would have built up SLC-Hawaii for the summer. UA and AA have added lots of capacity and for good reason. With Europe and Asia travel in the toilet it's one of the few places available to vacation. I can remember when SLC had multiple 767's to HNL, OGG, and KOA. ATL for the longest time had an OGG flight as well. Delta has really dropped the ball on Hawaii.
unitedbusiness and MCO Flyer like this.
readywhenyouare is offline  
Old Jun 15, 2021, 8:28 pm
  #107  
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: SJC
Programs: DL PM MM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 3,276
Originally Posted by readywhenyouare
You would think Delta would have built up SLC-Hawaii for the summer. UA and AA have added lots of capacity and for good reason. With Europe and Asia travel in the toilet it's one of the few places available to vacation. I can remember when SLC had multiple 767's to HNL, OGG, and KOA. ATL for the longest time had an OGG flight as well. Delta has really dropped the ball on Hawaii.
Delta has never been strong in Hawaii. United, Hawaiian, Alaska, and Southwest are all much stronger in the mainland - Hawaii market. Alaska and Southwest are both 21st century additions too.
SJC ORD LDR is offline  
Old Jun 15, 2021, 8:37 pm
  #108  
Suspended
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Orlando, FL Area
Programs: Delta SkySponge ExtraAbsorbent, SPG Gold
Posts: 29,988
Originally Posted by SJC ORD LDR
Delta has never been strong in Hawaii. United, Hawaiian, Alaska, and Southwest are all much stronger in the mainland - Hawaii market. Alaska and Southwest are both 21st century additions too.
There's zero excuse for not having ATL-OGG. Especially since DFW is a smaller hub but operates it. It would provide one stop service from the east coast. It's not like they have anything better to do with the aircraft right now.
eneq likes this.
readywhenyouare is offline  
Old Jun 15, 2021, 9:03 pm
  #109  
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: MCO
Programs: DL PM, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 4,274
Originally Posted by readywhenyouare
You would think Delta would have built up SLC-Hawaii for the summer. UA and AA have added lots of capacity and for good reason. With Europe and Asia travel in the toilet it's one of the few places available to vacation. I can remember when SLC had multiple 767's to HNL, OGG, and KOA. ATL for the longest time had an OGG flight as well. Delta has really dropped the ball on Hawaii.
DL has been very weak in Hawaii ever since post-NWA merger. They cut a bunch of PMNW routes like DTW/PDX/SFO-HNL plus gutted the HNL-Asia operation. SLC-Hawaii flying was probably a victim of SEA growth and DL wanting to compete with AS there as its more efficient to use narrowbodies out of SEA vs SLC which likely needs a widebody to be sustainable. Right now DL is only at 3x daily on LAX-HNL (down from 4x pre-COVID) and they cut the 763 off the morning flight. They also no longer offer a morning flight from LAX/SEA to either LIH, OGG, or KOA which is a big drawback vs AA/UA which do offer morning flight.
MCO Flyer is offline  
Old Jun 16, 2021, 1:23 am
  #110  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,594
Originally Posted by readywhenyouare
You would think Delta would have built up SLC-Hawaii for the summer. UA and AA have added lots of capacity and for good reason. With Europe and Asia travel in the toilet it's one of the few places available to vacation. I can remember when SLC had multiple 767's to HNL, OGG, and KOA. ATL for the longest time had an OGG flight as well. Delta has really dropped the ball on Hawaii.
I wouldn't have. I would think LAX/SEA would see most of the Hawaii flying because its easily doable on narrow bodies.

but I believe SLC-HNL is back to a 767, which is actually an up gauge, as it had gone to a 757 pre-COVID IIRC.
Originally Posted by SJC ORD LDR
Delta has never been strong in Hawaii. United, Hawaiian, Alaska, and Southwest are all much stronger in the mainland - Hawaii market. Alaska and Southwest are both 21st century additions too.
huh? What is the definition of "stronger"? they may have more flights(I don't know) but its pretty unlikely Southwest, who basically started right before COVID, is stronger than anyone to Hawaii right now as far as profits go.
Originally Posted by readywhenyouare
There's zero excuse for not having ATL-OGG. Especially since DFW is a smaller hub but operates it. It would provide one stop service from the east coast. It's not like they have anything better to do with the aircraft right now.
sure there is. If ATL-OGG was profitable, Delta would be doing it.

it makes much more sense to fly everyone over LAX/SLC/OGG with multiple options/frequency instead of what would be a niche market out of ATL (and before you say it, no, in this ATL and DFW aren't comparable. Being ~800 miles west opens up many connection options that aren't logical via ATL.) You'll notice most carriers struggle to make east coast-HNL work, much less OOG. AFAIK only United is flying from the east to OGG and its a vert limited flight.
Originally Posted by MCO Flyer
DL has been very weak in Hawaii ever since post-NWA merger. They cut a bunch of PMNW routes like DTW/PDX/SFO-HNL plus gutted the HNL-Asia operation. SLC-Hawaii flying was probably a victim of SEA growth and DL wanting to compete with AS there as its more efficient to use narrowbodies out of SEA vs SLC which likely needs a widebody to be sustainable. Right now DL is only at 3x daily on LAX-HNL (down from 4x pre-COVID) and they cut the 763 off the morning flight. They also no longer offer a morning flight from LAX/SEA to either LIH, OGG, or KOA which is a big drawback vs AA/UA which do offer morning flight.
Got data to back that up? You are right on Hawaii-Asia but I believe you'll find Delta is going to be pretty comparable flight wise from what they were right around the merger. (if not larger)
just looking over a NW time table from 1/5/10 i see
yes SFO-HNL was cut but NW was basically down to a handful of weeks out of the year with VERY seasonal service, not even daily service. (looks like it was mostly 3-4x weekly)
The 1 flight (also not daily) out of Portland has been more than covered by the increases in LA and Seattle. (again 4-5x weekly)
NW was 1x each at LAX/SEA-HNL and Delta was 1x LAX-HNL(maybe 2x?). IIRC pre-COVID they were at least around 8 daily flights in each market.

As for DTW-HNL was a one-stop flight via somewhere out west. (looks like SEA but i'm not 100% sure) Either way, DTW/JFK were seasonal routes pre-COVID and I imagine they will come back as other seasonal long haul comes back.

Also on top of all of that, OGG/KOA/LIH have all seen additional capacity from SLC(OGG only), SEA and LAX.
Dawgfan6291 is offline  
Old Jun 16, 2021, 2:07 am
  #111  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: IAH / HOU
Programs: UA GS, DL-Plat, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Hyatt Somethingist, Marriott Titanium Lifetime
Posts: 2,852
I fly out of SLC frequently and often wish DL had more regional destinations. But for the next few years - until the new terminal is fully operational - they are gate constrained. Capacity and passenger traffic are currently on par with 2019 levels overall, but with gate space being constrained they just can’t add a whole bunch of flights on smaller aircraft. The air travel market to SLC is stronger than most right now, so they are prioritizing flights that use larger aircraft to capture as much business as possible. That makes more sense than trying to serve markets like Moab, which don’t have enough traffic to justify larger aircraft. And the population density of the region makes it impossible to properly compare to the southeast.

While I agree that each of the big 3 airlines has a significant gap in their network, industry wide there are probably too many hubs in the US, not too few. Even with lots of hubs closing or being scaled back considerably over the past twenty years there are probably more than needed to ensure good connectivity between all city pairs. That’s partly because we have a competitive system and each large airline wants the opportunity to move people between all the combinations, but also the result of the fact that there used to be a lot more smaller carriers than there are now,. As a passenger I would love to be able to fly my preferred airline between any two cities globally, but I certainly do not want a system where there is only one air carrier or even just one alliance. Passenger service would likely be far worse than it is now (and yes, I do think that is actually possible, despite how lacking I consider current service levels).
Air Houston is offline  
Old Jun 16, 2021, 8:21 am
  #112  
 
Join Date: May 2021
Location: Washington DC
Programs: Skymiles
Posts: 78
I'm still surprised that there's no El Paso-LAX flight. Before COVID they decided to do ELP-SLC before LAX. I know Delta doesn't have the biggest demand out of ELP (currently only flies to ATL) but I wonder why they wouldn't connect the city to California
JulioCesarSalad is offline  
Old Jun 19, 2021, 2:47 am
  #113  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: West of CLE
Programs: Delta DM/3 MM; Hertz PC; National EE; Amtrak GR; Bonvoy Silver; Via Rail Prfrence
Posts: 5,354
I've never quite understood why Delta doesn't take better advantage of its SLC hub to serve a number of regional airports in the west which appear to me to be underserved:

Everett-Paine Field
Yakima
Salem
Klamath Falls
Eureka
Redding
Chico
Santa Rosa
Modesto
Monterey
San Luis Obispo
Bakersfield
Bullhead City-Laughlin
Prescott
Yuma
Santa Fe
Gallup
Amarillo
Lubbock
Midland-Odessa
Gillette WY
Sheridan WY
Lethbridge AB
Kamloops BC
ND76 is offline  
Old Jun 19, 2021, 6:57 am
  #114  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 19,392
Originally Posted by ND76
I've never quite understood why Delta doesn't take better advantage of its SLC hub to serve a number of regional airports in the west which appear to me to be underserved:

Everett-Paine Field
Yakima
Salem
Klamath Falls
Eureka
Redding
Chico
Santa Rosa
Modesto
Monterey
San Luis Obispo
Bakersfield
Bullhead City-Laughlin
Prescott
Yuma
Santa Fe
Gallup
Amarillo
Lubbock
Midland-Odessa
Gillette WY
Sheridan WY
Lethbridge AB
Kamloops BC
Page would be a nice addition.
kale73 is online now  
Old Jun 19, 2021, 7:17 am
  #115  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Back in Reds Country (DAY/CVG). Previously: SEA & SAT.
Programs: DL PM 1MM, AA PLAT, UA Silver, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 10,289
Originally Posted by ND76
I've never quite understood why Delta doesn't take better advantage of its SLC hub to serve a number of regional airports in the west which appear to me to be underserved:

Everett-Paine Field
Yakima
Salem
Klamath Falls
Eureka
Redding
Chico
Santa Rosa
Modesto
Monterey
San Luis Obispo
Bakersfield
Bullhead City-Laughlin
Prescott
Yuma
Santa Fe
Gallup
Amarillo
Lubbock
Midland-Odessa
Gillette WY
Sheridan WY
Lethbridge AB
Kamloops BC
DL did serve Gillette, WY at one point I believe and if my memory serves me correctly, I think it was part of a 1-stop via Casper, WY to SLC (SLC-CPR-GCC) or at least one of the daily flights between SLC and GCC went via CPR.

Do agree on PAE. Not that it matters much to me now (hasnt for a few years) but I wish there had been service out of PAE while I lived there. Mileage wise it was further than SEA but depending on the time of day PAE could be easier to get to if I was going opposite the main flow of traffic along the 405 loop. And for the people on the north side of downtown PAE is way easier (especially for those at the Boeing plant), so Im surprised it took so long for an airline to look into starting service there, especially since bad traffic in the Seattle area hasnt been new for a long time.
ATOBTTR is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.