Delta To Suspend Some Song Flights

[funguy2]

Profitable airlines don't park planes. And if this is such a good strategy, how come other airlines don't do this all the time?

Spin, spin, spin

All airlines play the seasonal game...

All airlines will try to do more MX work during the "off-peak" season (thus fly less) and less MX flying during the "peak" season (thus fly more).

Furthermore, airlines will try to shift capacity on the basis of seasons as well... JB for example, probably flys more N/S in the winter and more E/W in the summer, because of seasonal demand patterns.

I think it is erroneous to say "name an airline who parks 1/3 of its fleet in Sept"... because Song is just a subset of Delta... I would bet that Song's "reduction" in September is just a strategic arrangement of Delta's overall MX Plan in an effort to pump up the numbers at Song (Sept's effect will be less bad for Song, but about the same for DAL overall...) My bet is that this is just a method for folks trying to justify Song's existance to pump up their financial numbers by losing less money in September, a particularly and notoriously bad month for airlines...

You don't think 9/11/01 occurred on a Tuesday (worst day of the week) in September (worst month of the year) by accident, do you? My point is that if the terrorists know this is true, then so do the airline management folks.

BTW - if revenue does not cover variable costs (i.e. labor, fuel, landing fees, things only incurred if the plane actually flies), then it is actually better to park the airplane.

Profit/Loss = Revenue - Cost
Cost = Fixed Costs + Variable Costs

Therefore: Profit/Loss = Revenue - (Fixed Costs + Variable Costs)

If Revenue is 10 and Variable Cost is 11, you are guaranteed a Loss of at least 1.
If fixed costs are 2, You lose 2 by not operating and 3 by operating. The loss minimization comes by canceling the operation. (Very Simple example)

 

[HPearlyretiree]

Airlines park planes, yes, but they don't do it for a month, and do a press release about it!

Something is rotten in the state of Georgia....

 

[WorldTraveler]

For those of you who doubt that Song's motives make sense, I suppose you'll be equally surprised that most US airlines do most of their heavy maintenance on their international fleet in January - March (OH MY GOODNESS) which is lo and behold the slowest months of the year for transatlantic travel. It also happens to make alot of sense to reduce capacity during those months when it isn't needed. HORROR of HORRORS - the industry is on the verge of collapse every year. And HPretiree, I don't believe Delta issued a press release on the Song cutbacks; one of the brain trusts in the media picked up on it and blew it WAY out of proportion.

(And I always thought that airlines did heavy maintenance on their int'l fleets during the winter because the mechanics had to stay inside of hangars since it is so cold in most of the northern hemisphere.)

 

[Whadayano]

Does Delta have enough 757 qualified mechanics to do 7-8 C checks in a month? And if they do, what do they do the rest of the year? Does Delta have enough 757's needing checks to keep that many people busy all year?

 

[DalMD88]

We have two PSV lines(C Check), one in TPA and one in DFW. We also have two HMV lines (D Check) in DFW. All of these lines run contiuously. HMV takes about a month of down time and a PSV about a week. I doubt the Song pull down is related to the PSV Checks. I think they are going to finish the entertainment systems.