DL announces Liberia...AA, where's your PR?

[MAH4546]

Delta, as expected, announced Liberia, Costa Rica today. American Airlines, I''m expecting your Miami-Liberia announcement tomorrow. ;-).
Okay, it''s really not a big deal, but AA can''t fall behind in LatAm. Liberia and the Dominican Republic are the hotspots for 2003. AA blows everyone out of the water to the Dominican Republic, but time to start looking at Libera...

 

[FA Mikey]

They cant say its for lack of crews or planes.

 

[TWAFA007]

7

 

[TWAFA007]

Aloha,

Just spent two weeks in Costa Rica in May. It is true that Liberia is the prefered airport for the vacationers and is Costa Ricas 2nd largest city. Its close to the big beach resort areas like Tamarindo and the rainforests. There is a big opportunity to offer Europeans a one-stop flight to Liberia. Lots of high end Euros travel to the Costa, Euro owned restorts. Tourism in Costa Rica is growing as fast as they can pave the roads. AA better make a move before DAL starts really making inroads into Latin America.

ALOHA, 007

 

[DLFlyer31]

I was very surprised to see DL pounce on Liberia before AA. AA is usually the first to jump on any new Latin American hotspot. I expect AA will probably launch service to Liberia soon.

I think both airlines can coexist given the growth in the Costa Rican market and given the different operational demands (DL's flight will rely heavily on connecting traffic vs. AA who relies more heavily on O+D traffic). Even still, its nice to see DL give AA a little challenge...we don't want AA getting lazy in Latin America.

 

[s80dude]

[blockquote]
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On 9/13/2002 11:52:57 AM TWAFA007 wrote:

Aloha,

Just spent two weeks in Costa Rica in May. It is true that Liberia is the prefered airport for the vacationers and is Costa Ricas 2nd largest city. Its close to the big beach resort areas like Tamarindo and the rainforests. There is a big opportunity to offer Europeans a one-stop flight to Liberia. Lots of high end Euros travel to the Costa, Euro owned restorts. Tourism in Costa Rica is growing as fast as they can pave the roads. AA better make a move before DAL starts really making inroads into Latin America.

ALOHA, 007
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[/blockquote]

I don't think we need to worry about Delta making inroads into Latin America. The AA presence is still quite large. In fact, Delta has announced a retrenchment from two major Latin American destinations.

http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/020913/1722000565_2.html

 

[MAH4546]

[blockquote]
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On 9/13/2002 1:08:39 PM DLFlyer31 wrote:

I was very surprised to see DL pounce on Liberia before AA. AA is usually the first to jump on any new Latin American hotspot. I expect AA will probably launch service to Liberia soon.

I think both airlines can coexist given the growth in the Costa Rican market and given the different operational demands (DL's flight will rely heavily on connecting traffic vs. AA who relies more heavily on O+D traffic). Even still, its nice to see DL give AA a little challenge...we don't want AA getting lazy in Latin America.
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[/blockquote]

Delta just announced that they are permanentley ending service to Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro...thier goes Atlanta's dream of replacing Miami has the world's gateway to Latin America. It was a joke to begin with, and this further shows that. Don't get me wrong, daily ATL-SJO/GRU/BOG/LIM, etc. services can do very well, and they do do very well, but I want to see them fill up a daily service to Medellin, Colombia...they can't. They can't even fill up flights to Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro (loads on AA's GIG and EZE services remains great, although yield is currently not as good as usually).

I was delighted to see this announcement today of Delta's failure in these two markets (and GIG wasn't just a quick stunt...they have been there for six years), although obviously I think it's saddening that Delta employees in the two cities will unfortunatley be loosing thier jobs.

With Delta's ending, there are now 21 weekly non-stop flights between the United States and Rio de Janeiro (all from Miami). American will have ten of them, and, while it is too early to tell, I think MIA-GIG will go double-daily on 15Dec02 like it was originally supposed to given the capacity glut.

Still waiting for that MIA-LIR announcement, though. :-)

 

[s80dude]

With Delta abandoning the EZE market, does this throw a slot back in the pot for other carriers? I recall AA didn't want the DFW-EZE authority it was recently awarded because it was only for 18 months. Now will a permanent authority be opening? I wonder given the current situation if AA is still interested?

 

[AAmech]

Forget about Liberia!! It would only be low-yeild connecting vacationers. Somewhat like CUN only the planes would be half-full. Forget about the Euro's. Its mostly Germans and they're notoriously cheap. They fly direct to CR on charters and stay away from any hotel over $25.00 On the other hand SJO is where you go for business. A lot of profitable O&D mixed with a fair share of leisure travelers.

 

[AAmech]

OK, I've changed my mind! AMR can have Eagle fly a ERJ-135 (might need an Aux tank) to Libera twice a week. That might work.

 

[avek00]

NW has been flying to Liberia for years, and yet AA did not choose to compete with them. Why would it necessarily be any different with DL offering service?

 

[DLFlyer31]

[blockquote]
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On 9/13/2002 9:41:38 PM MAH4546 wrote:

Delta just announced that they are permanentley ending service to Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro...thier goes Atlanta's dream of "replacing" Miami has the world's gateway to Latin America. It was a joke to begin with, and this further shows that. Don't get me wrong, daily ATL-SJO/GRU/BOG/LIM, etc. services can do very well, and they do do very well, but I want to see them fill up a daily service to Medellin, Colombia...they can't. They can't even fill up flights to Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro (loads on AA's GIG and EZE services remains great, although yield is currently not as good as usually).

I was delighted to see this announcement today of Delta's failure in these two markets (and GIG wasn't just a quick stunt...they have been there for six years), although obviously I think it's saddening that Delta employees in the two cities will unfortunatley be loosing thier jobs.

With Delta's ending, there are now 21 weekly non-stop flights between the United States and Rio de Janeiro (all from Miami). American will have ten of them, and, while it is too early to tell, I think MIA-GIG will go double-daily on 15Dec02 like it was originally supposed to given the capacity glut.

Still waiting for that MIA-LIR announcement, though. 🙂

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[/blockquote]

I don't think DL really failed in the two markets. ATL-EZE had little time to develop and DL started the route under harsh circumstances. ATL-GIG is always a tough market with a very high percentage of leisure fliers. I expect both flights will be back as soon as the economy picks up.

The prime reason to cut these flights is to get rid of poor performers and save cash. DL wants to conserve (and build up) cash reserves especially in preparation for a rough winter and competing with one (possibly two) bankrupt carriers. AA is doing the same thing....see the axed JFK-GIG and JFK-CCS. Both airlines now this will be a rough winter and there is no room to keep flights that have no chance of profitability in the next 12 months.

It's pretty sick that you take delight in a route failing. Fewer flight options to South America are not a good thing for consumers nor for the economies of those countries. Your obsession with AA and it Latin American flights out of MIA borders on unhealthy. How many times per day do you post on MIA (and not just on these boards either)?

 

[MAH4546]

[blockquote]
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On 9/16/2002 9:55:43 AM avek00 wrote:

NW has been flying to Liberia for years, and yet AA did not choose to compete with them. Why would it necessarily be any different with DL offering service?
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[/blockquote]

Because Delta is tough and healthy and a real competitor to Latin America, unlike Northwest. Delta has done very well in Latin America, despite the recent cuts.