Delta to Add PHL-BOS Flights

[FM2436]

Delta's move into Boston-Philadelphia service could make that market -- long dominated by US Airways, which has its main hub in Philadelphia -- more competitive than it has been in years.

US Airways currently offers 17 weekday flights from Logan to Philadelphia, according to the Official Airline Guide, running roughly hourly from 5:30 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. AirTran has three flights. While Amtrak's high-speed Acela trains strongly challenge air shuttles to New York in overall door-to-door travel time, Amtrak is considered much less of a factor in Boston-Philadelphia service because the Acela takes 4 hours and 50 minutes, flights usually 90 minutes.

With the heaviest schedule, US Airways commands 69 percent of passenger volume between Boston and Philadelphia, compared to just 20 percent for AirTran, according to FareReport.com, a website that analyzes US Transportation Department data. Delta is charging typically $266 to $296 round-trip for the Boston-Philadelphia flights, not counting taxes and fees, its website showed yesterday afternoon. That compares to an average $288 fare on US Airways, FareReport.com says.



http://www.boston.com/business/globe/artic...elphia_flights/

 

[dariencc]

RJs

 

[usairways85]

FL is reportedly dropping its PHL-BOS service around the time DL will start their service, although nothing official yet

 

[flyJOE]

Delta's move into Boston-Philadelphia service could make that market -- long dominated by US Airways, which has its main hub in Philadelphia -- more competitive than it has been in years. [/url]

This is actually DL's re-entry into the market. DL Connection flew the route into the 90's During that time frame, the PHL-BOS market was quite competitive, even more so than today. In addition to all of the service on US, DL as mentioned, NW and AA both flew the route, as well as low fare airlines Nations Air Express, JetTrain, and I even think ValuJet was in the market until there voluntary shutdown after the Everglades crash.

 

[CLT CS AGENT]

I think that Delta is still a little pi$$ed about the whole hostile takeover thing and I think they trying to hit US in places where it hurts. The North East corridor is very profitable for airlines and the US Airways NE shuttle service is coveted by many. Although Delta has its own shuttle I think they are flexing their muscle and raising their fist to US. This may be the beginning of DL's revenge on US for that failed hostile merger.......thank God it did not happen. Tempe would have ruined Delta, too.

 

[RW-USFA]

This may be the beginning of DL's revenge on US for that failed hostile merger.......thank God it did not happen. Tempe would have ruined Delta, too.

The beginning? They have been in revenge mode for some time now. On the day the takeover was announced....they announced JFK-PHX. Shortly thereafter they announced SLC-CLT. Then a little bit after that they announced SLC-PIT. They then introduced a second daily JFK-PHX. It seems as though every domestic route they have announced since the takeover attempt has been to one of US's key markets.

 

[BuffaloJoe]

I think that Delta is still a little pi$$ed about the whole hostile takeover thing and I think they trying to hit US in places where it hurts. The North East corridor is very profitable for airlines and the US Airways NE shuttle service is coveted by many. Although Delta has its own shuttle I think they are flexing their muscle and raising their fist to US. This may be the beginning of DL's revenge on US for that failed hostile merger.......thank God it did not happen. Tempe would have ruined Delta, too.

I don't think that this is in direct with the failed merger. They are putting RJ's on the route, not exactly what business fliers want to fly. They maybe feeling it out first. My personal believe/opinion is that they are just trying to tie up the airways in the Northeast. This is a weird one to start with, if they were to do PHL extra flights, I would have thought an LAX, and Florida service would be more demanding. Especially with WN stopping the PHL-LAX, PHL-OAK flights.

 

[EMBFA]

Delta Connection flew this route up to at least 2001.

 

[FutureUScapt]

Delta Connection flew this route up to at least 2001.

Yep, they've flown it several times; I believe it last ended sometime in 2003. Both AA Eagle and DL Connection have tried this route in the past and to no avail --and both have a substantial FF base in BOS and probably decent name recognition in the Philly area. This is really just proof that there is too much RJ capacity in the industry.

 

[flyingcat]

While the frequency is not the best. At 12F and 64Y in the CR9 it will have a high F to Y ratio.

 

[Coffee_Tea_Or_Me]

The beginning? They have been in revenge mode for some time now. On the day the takeover was announced....they announced JFK-PHX. Shortly thereafter they announced SLC-CLT. Then a little bit after that they announced SLC-PIT. They then introduced a second daily JFK-PHX. It seems as though every domestic route they have announced since the takeover attempt has been to one of US's key markets.

This makes Delta management seem petty. Why enter the JFK-PHX market when it is already saturated and has low fares? Doesn't JetBlue serve this, too? I suspect the route loses money for Delta. And, I could be wrong, but I would bet SLC-CLT is another loser. I am curious what the loads are like on that. Instead of petty revenge schemes, why not deploy your fleet on routes that will fatten your bank account, not drain it.

I wish US Airways had the cahones to do something right back, though. The day Delta announced PHX-JFK, US should have increased its number of frequencies between PHX and JFK and reinstated mainline service between JFK and CLT. The day Delta announced SLC-CLT, US should have announced SLC-PHL and SLC-CLT (I realize I am contradicting myself with these suggestions, but US should defend the little territory it has, and I bet the routes would do better on US because of strong connections in PHL and CLT).

They also could have done something really crazy -- like hourly RJs between LGA and ATL at $50 each way.

 

[phllax]

This is attemp #4 for DL in PHL-BOS.

It was originally mainline, with 757 and 767 service, until the mid to late 80's, then went to BEX, ACJet and now Comair.

 

[NYCDelta]

This makes Delta management seem petty. Why enter the JFK-PHX market when it is already saturated and has low fares? Doesn't JetBlue serve this, too? I suspect the route loses money for Delta. And, I could be wrong, but I would bet SLC-CLT is another loser. I am curious what the loads are like on that. Instead of petty revenge schemes, why not deploy your fleet on routes that will fatten your bank account, not drain it.

I wish US Airways had the cahones to do something right back, though. The day Delta announced PHX-JFK, US should have increased its number of frequencies between PHX and JFK and reinstated mainline service between JFK and CLT. The day Delta announced SLC-CLT, US should have announced SLC-PHL and SLC-CLT (I realize I am contradicting myself with these suggestions, but US should defend the little territory it has, and I bet the routes would do better on US because of strong connections in PHL and CLT).

They also could have done something really crazy -- like hourly RJs between LGA and ATL at $50 each way.

Actually, Delta has started alot of new service from JFK over the past year. Mostly, it is to connect to our international service. In fact, we served JFK-PHX prior to 9/11 and stopped it. It continued on to SAN. We started service again JFK-DEN the same time, but not to piss off United. I think people are reading into this a little too much. BTW, everybody should be watching AA. Their the ones who now fly LGA-ATL and LGA-MSP. It seems they want a piece of everyone else's pie.

 

[PHL]

The PHL-BOS service also being positioned as a feeder to BOS originating TA flights. Never mind that you can also take a short PHL-JFK hop to do the same when you need to get from PHL to Dubai, Moscow, Mumbai and other far reaching Euro markets that US would like.

 

[WCT]

The beginning? They have been in revenge mode for some time now. On the day the takeover was announced....they announced JFK-PHX. Shortly thereafter they announced SLC-CLT. Then a little bit after that they announced SLC-PIT. They then introduced a second daily JFK-PHX. It seems as though every domestic route they have announced since the takeover attempt has been to one of US's key markets.

DL has always flown between PHX-JFK over the years. They might of cut back after 9-11, American has also had flights to JFK. The JFK market has been very sucessful for America West over the years, especially LAS-JFK.