Delta leaving SLC?
 

According to abc news this evening, Delta is being courted very heavily by Denver to replace SLC as its Western Hub and, according to the reports, is considering it.

According to the news report, Denver is hurting from the down-turn in UA's business and is fearing more is to come, in particular if UA doesn't get its act together and therefore are looking at and heavily pushing new opportunities.

Mind you, reports about threats of Delta leaving SLC are not uncommon locally, in particular at times where contracts between Delta and SLC are up for renegotiations (don't know if that'sthe case this time)

How much validity there is to this particular report I can't say - just want to keep you informed.

Delta needs to leave SLC as traffic in and out of there is always at a dizzing pace, but not the swift kind.

delete

There are some reasons that DL should/might consider Denver, and others that could mean "no way".

1 - Denver is a terrible airport if going to and from Denver, due to it's location halfway to Kansas.

2 - It would make a good airport as a hub, meaning most of the traffic is connecting.

3 - The cost of the airport and landing fees make Denver unattractive.

4 - The fact that is in the middle of nowhere does hurt hub operations if you have to put lots of people up in hotels. There are some out there, but most of still 5-10 miles away, difficult in a snowstorm.

5 - SLC makes for a good hub and destination due to Ski resorts. Yes, Denver has ski resorts, but most are a long ways away.

And of course, moving a "hub" is a major expense in people, equipment, time, etc.

One would have to assume that part of the 'heavy courting' by DIA would a reduction of those fees.

Jeff

At one time DL had considered LAS as a new hub. By the end of the day, I think Delta will stay in SLC,..just like Karl Malone will. However, if I had my choice as to who could stay and leave lets keep Delta.

all of this is of course predicated on the assumption that UA will soon go out of business; which is a rather plausible assumption, but one that also leaves DL with the option of relocating SLC operations to LAX or SFO as well... if anywhere.

------------------
Faire du ciel le plus bel endroit de la terre c'est impossible sans Concorde!
~ConcordeBoy

Try the Unofficial Continental Airlines Dictionary

The nice thing for an airline about LAS is all that late night traffic --> higher aircraft utilization.

The no-so-nice thing for an airline about LAS -- low yields.

There may be many reasons to diss SLC, but this one puzzles me. Having lived here for 11 years and flown extensively in-and-out, I find it one of the airports with the fewest delays and as a rule, with the most early arrivals (if leaving on time elsewhere) making for timely departures as well. It also appears to me to be one of the best to deal with weather related issues such as Winter storms. I can't remember last time a flight was more than 30 minutes late leaving - including in the Winter.

Now for me at least, the vast majority of my disconnects have been due to issues at the "other" airport - and most often related to two settings: 1) When having to fly CR's to connect to a mainline as the the CR schedules seems to be so tight that a bad start in the morning ripples through to the last of multiple flights, and 2) when trying to connect to a scheduled transatlantic flight in CDG (on AF especially), where I have misconnected (from Marseilles and Copenhagen) the last 4 consecutive flights there, as well as not infrequent delayed departures of an hour or more of the International flights misconnecting when arriving in the U.S.

As I said, I have no problems with FF's disliking SLC for location, options, alcohol contents of drinks (or the lack thereof!!) etc., etc., but I have to "defend" SLC when the claim is made that there are operational problems necessitating for Delta to relocate their hub as I think that just plain is unjustified.

I thought UA was off the death-watch list for now, and that AA was still the vulnerable one. Or is the pick-up at UA not as rosy as some make it seem?

I might be wrong but I don't think UA has an approved plan to get out of bankruptcy yet. They are just getting closer to have all financing pulled from them.

UA is off the list until the fall, when rising DIP targets and falling revenues might make for some interesting fireworks...

------------------
Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.

Dizzying because every time I fly in or out of SLC we literally spiral up or spiral down. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Are you sure you're speaking of SLC? SCL (Santiago), perhaps? I've been flying in and out of here (SLC) for over forty years and have never spiraled up or down.

(Except of course, when I did it on purpose using my friends' Citabria)

duck: I, too, was puzzled by that seeming nonsense post.

It reminded me of the old Italian political joke asking "what is the difference between a raven?" and answering: "both legs have the same length, especially the left one."

I must say that having the original poster explain that "dizzing" should have been "dizzying" does not make it much clearer to me, but maybe none of us are "swift" enough (see -- another bird joke).

Canarsie &co. should take it from here, I guess.....