Ok this makes no sense if a person doesnt fly on DL no airline partner will give DL money from that passengers trip.
not sure what doesn't make sense... but I suspect the same answer to the question of why DL doesn't have any mainline aircraft at YYZ this summer (even though they have in the past, even since the merger) is the same reason why DL actually DOES make money even w/o a passenger flying a DL aircraft.
And this answer and reasoning applies to the YYZ market and the unique circumstances that have occurred this year.
- DL and US tried for 2 years to get the DOT to approve the slot swap w/o divesting slots. DL and US essentially wanted to pick the winners of who got the slots - remember they proposed a division of slots at one point among several carriers. WN came in and said they could use them all DL and US convinced the DOT to do a slot auction - and for it to apply to all carriers who could serve LGA, which includes Canadian carriers.
- DL had been trying to get a Canadian partner for some time.... AA got WS to partner w/ AA first, but not to be left alone, DL wanted in too - just like AA and DL split AS on the west coast. DL knew how much WS wanted into the NYC market... they tried before but failed.
- You and I won't ever read the transcripts of said meeting but I am pretty sure that DL basically told WS that if they won a set of slots, DL would give WS access to DL's new hub at LGA, reducing the risk WS had in launching flights solely on a point to point basis. DL needed feed for is new LGA and was happy to have WS' help - esp. w/ mainline aircraft. DL also would win by dividing WS with AA, minimizing the competitive gain AA would gain in a market where they were already stronger (BTW, DL did the same thing w/ Gol in Brazil... but DL bought 4% of Gol and gained exclusivity. Doesn't matter though since AA will probably gain an exclusivity partner with TAM through the LAN-TAM merger - but UA will end up w/o a major partner in Brazil). The point is that airlines continually try to one up each other... and DL used the slot swap and WestJet's successful bid as the means to develop a stronger relationship with WS. WS turned around and added new ORD service which provided strength to AA, but it still deepened the relationship with WS.
- WS paid $17M (I think that is the right figure) for slots for 8 roundtrip flights... that is a lot of money. Presumably, US got the money for the LGA slots while DL got the money for the DCA slots - which B6 bought along w/ another set of LGA slots - but still, the slot swap added alot of money for DL and US, who also kept WN out of the process because they didn't bid high enough.
When you consider the value of the slot swap in allowing DL to grow its size in NYC and in deepening its relationship with WestJet, in this case, DL gained a whole lot strategically by not flying LGA-YYZ w/ its own (or DCI) aircraft.
Further, when you factor in the extra dozen or so new mainline flights that WestJet has added to LGA and ORD this summer w/ connections throughout the US, it makes all the more sense why DL is not interested in using mainline aircraft in YYZ for this summer – and perhaps for quite some time into the future. Not to lose out to WJ, Air Canada has added frequencies to NYC as well... and you also note the Porter service which has proven popular and which is yet one more set of new flights.
The NYC-Toronto market is a mess right now and someone is likely going to bleed cash before it all settles down again. And the effects are not going to be limited just to NYC.