Will Delta will continue running Usairways out of markets....

[DLFlyer31]

[P]
[BLOCKQUOTE][BR]----------------[BR]On 1/9/2003 12:57:43 PM deltawatch wrote:
[P]Over the last couple of years they have built these markets up to a point that they are now replacing RJ’s like crazy with Boeing aircraft, using the RJ's to explore new territory. [BR]----------------[BR][BR]Can you please name these markets where DL has replaced RJ's with Boeings? I'd be curious to know what markets you are talking about. [BR][BR]You're right that DL has eaten away at US's markets using RJ's. However, DL has very rarely upgraded RJ markets to mainline. The one big exception I can think of is MHT which rapidly went from no service to RJ's to MD88's. However, that had little to do with US and more to do with WN.[/P][/BLOCKQUOTE]
[P][/P]

 

[A320 Driver]

I hope the rumor of our replacing the airbus on the shuttle with the 737s is wrong. If a customer rides on a DL 737 and then one of our busses, they will never ride DL again. It's a great competitive advantage.

A320 Driver

 

[deltawatch]

Over the past ten years Delta has nearly run Usairways out of many once strong holds in the Mid-Atlantic. The company has told us this. They did it using RJ’s against our props. Over the last couple of years they have built these markets up to a point that they are now replacing RJ’s like crazy with Boeing aircraft, using the RJ''s to explore new territory. We are getting ready to express many of these cities. I can tell you with out any hesitation that if two airlines serve pretty much the same markets a business man will soon select the airline with the most comfortable aircraft to accumulate Frequent traveler mileage on. If I flew every week I would take the Boeing everytime.

 

[GadgetFreak]

[blockquote]
----------------
On 1/9/2003 1:15:30 PM A320 Driver wrote:

I hope the rumor of our replacing the airbus on the shuttle with the 737s is wrong. If a customer rides on a DL 737 and then one of our busses, they will never ride DL again. It's a great competitive advantage.

A320 Driver
----------------
[/blockquote]
There was a fairly extensive thread on this on Flyertalk as you might expect. I agree I vastly prefer the A320. However, changing back to 737s would probably not effect me much, I would still fly the U shuttle over Delta. Moreover, I think very few people would make a change based on equipment on the shuttle. There are a very large number of people who pick shuttle carriers based solely on whether they get to the airport closer to the hour or the half hour.

 

[deltawatch]

Ten years ago Delta had a very small presents in RIC, ORF, SAV, GSO, IAD to name just a few. Delta is using 757's into SAV. GSO was once Piedmont Airlines home base.

 

[Heinrich]

Delta has upgraded to 757s to ORF too. US has been #1 for YEARS, like 12, in ORF. In November, Delta grabbed the #1 slot. This trend is expected to continue in ORF. In response, there were a couple of Dash-8s to Charlotte & PHL (maybe 2 flights) per day that went to 737. But that's not enough.

 

[FM2436]

deltawatch:

Interesting article from today's Aviation Daily.


Aviation Daily Jan 9, 2003

Delta Reshaping DFW Operation, Adding Flights, Cutting Capacity
By Steve Lott



Delta today is expected unveil significant changes to its Dallas/Fort Worth hub schedule, which are aimed to better match capacity with demand and attract more business traffic.


Starting April 6, Delta will actually boost the number of DFW flights by 13% to a total of about 270 services operated by mainline and Delta Connection, The DAILY has learned. At the same time, capacity will fall as the airline will shift a lot of its mainline flying to smaller regional jets operated by subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines.


To accommodate the additional frequencies and RJ operations, Delta will add two more flight banks during the peak hours of 11:30 a.m. and about 6:00 p.m. After all the changes, Delta will have eight banks at DFW.


A Delta spokeswoman yesterday would not comment on the expected changes. The new spring schedule will be loaded into its reservations system this weekend.


Delta has struggled recently to compete at DFW with American, which has a far bigger operation at the airport. For the year ended June 2002, American's mainline operation had roughly 60% market share at DFW, while Delta mainline carried about 18% of the passengers. According to data obtained by The DAILY, AA had a mainline 71.1% load factor for the same timeframe, compared with 67.5% at Delta.


The Delta changes are aimed at offering more daily flights to several destinations and creating more convenient connections, sources said. For example, Delta will sharply cut or eliminate mainline service from DFW to airports such as Austin, Denver, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Washington National, Phoenix and Little Rock. On some routes, the number of flights could double or triple after ASA takes over the flying from mainline.


On flights to Austin, Little Rock and Phoenix, Delta's load factors did not exceed 65% for the year ended in June. For all narrowbody aircraft operating out of DFW for the same time period, Delta's average loads were less than 70%, and lower than its breakeven load factor.


Many of those same routes could improve their respective financial results by operating 40- or 50-seat regional jets. ASA's total load factor for its RJs and turboprops for the year ended in June was 55.9%. On top the DFW changes, Delta is also planning to drop several other mainline routes and will make additional frequency changes around its network.


Delta's plans to rework the DFW schedule come several months after AA embarked on a project to de-peak its largest DFW hub in favor of a "rolling" schedule (DAILY, Aug. 14). The airline started to de-peak the hub Nov. 1, and when the plan is fully implemented, AA will be able to fly the same schedule with 11 fewer aircraft and fewer gates and staff.

 

[mbmbbost]

US has dropped from number one at BOS to number three, behind American and Delta, according to an article in the Boston Globe on January 4.

 

[grndproxwarning]

[blockquote]
----------------
On 1/9/2003 1022 PM mbmbbost wrote:

US has dropped from number one at BOS to number three, behind American and Delta, according to an article in the Boston Globe on January 4.
----------------
[/blockquote]
American and Delta are just starting their problems in the NE..I just heard AE was closing Maint and flight operations
in BGR..Ugly rumor if true..anyone else heard about it?

 

[DLFlyer31]

[P]
[BLOCKQUOTE][BR]----------------[BR]On 1/9/2003 1:51:59 PM deltawatch wrote:
[P]Ten years ago Delta had a very small presents in RIC, ORF, SAV, GSO, IAD to name just a few. Delta is using 757's into SAV. GSO was once Piedmont Airlines home base. [/P]----------------[/BLOCKQUOTE]
[P][/P]However, you mischaracterized DL's growth in these markets. Ten years ago, DL had no RJ's in any of these markets, because DL had no RJ's at all. DL built these markets up using mainline, not RJ's. In fact, many of these markets had far more mainline to CVG, but over the past few years it has been downgraded to RJ's...allowing DL to control capacity while building up frequencies. [BR][BR]You also have to realize one reason these markets have seen a surge in mainline is not to fight off US, but instead to fight with WN/FL. IAD,GSO and SAV are all FL markets. ORF is a WN market. [BR][BR]The good news for US is that at least for the next few months, the bulk of DL's RJ growth will occur in DFW and should have less impact on US.

 

[deltawatch]

Someone posted info on ORF, so I researched GSO. Here's what I found. Delta has 8 or 9 727's and MD80's a day flying to it's hub in Atlanta. They are using RJ's to CVG. They are using RJ's to take passengers around hubs to LGA, BOS, MCO.

Usairways is down to 4 mainline fights to CLT, and 1 to PHL. All other service is express. According to airport figures Delta is now the largest carrier in GSO.

Same thing is happing in CHS, RIC and others. If we don't match Delta service and Equipment the business traveler will continue to drift away. Our code share with UAL will help hold on to some business travelers I hope.