Delta Airlines
AIRLINE NEWS
Starting in April, Southwest will convert AirTran service in Flint, MI, Portland, ME, Rochester, NY, and Charlotte to its own brand; they also will launch new daily service between Boston and Kansas City, as well as Houston and Pittsburgh
Delta has opened reservations for its new Seattle to Shanghai route, launching on June 16, 2013. The airline will start with one daily flight each way on a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, leaving Seattle at 6:20 p.m. and returning from Shanghai at 8:50 a.m. AirlineRoute.net and Air Transport World, 10/22/12
Airline Industry News
For tickets booked on or after Sept. 1, Delta will reduce the value of miles earned in some unpublished fare categories including; group fares, consolidator fares, tour or cruise package fares and student fares. Delta revised its policy to more closely align with that of transatlantic joint-venture partners. (BTNews.com, Aug. 27
Airlines have booted passengers for being inappropriately dressed. The dress code is not published so do not wear T-shirts with four-letter expletives or provocative slogans about terrorists and do not show excessive cleavage. Airplanes are deemed to be private property where free speech rights can be legally curtailed by the crew. (USAToday.com, Aug. 27)
AIR TRAVEL NEWS
Delta now operates flights to 11 new cities from LaGuardia Airport, the final phase of the largest route expansion at LGA in more than 40 years. Delta launched a dozen new routes in March as part of the first phase and today operates more than 260 daily flights to 60 cities from LGA, more than any other airline. New Delta operates service to Cleveland; Charlotte, NC, Charlottesville, VA, Denver, Halifax, Houston, Ottawa, Montreal, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Roanoke, VA. Last month, Delta launched new LGA service to Milwaukee; Wilmington, NC, and Myrtle Beach, SC. The airline has increased service at LaGuardia by 60 percent, with 100 new flights and 26 new destinations. (Delta.com, July 11)
For the eighth consecutive month, U.S. airlines have improved their on-time performance and delivered the best-ever May baggage-handling results. According to the Department of Transportation (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report, 83.4 percent of flights arrived within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival time in May 2012, a 6 percent improvement from the same month last year. The industry has posted year-over-year gains in on-time arrivals for each of the past eight months. Also in May, 99.72 percent of all U.S. airline passengers had their bags properly delivered, an all-time record for the month of May since the government began keeping stats in 1987 representing the 12th consecutive month of year-over-year improvement. (Eturbonews.com, July 10)
TRAVEL NEWS
Delta Air Lines pilots voted to accept a new contract which took effect on July 1, raising pilot pay by an average of 4 percent. Under the terms of this deal, another pay hike of 8.5 percent takes effect at the start of next year, followed by 3 percent raises in 2014 and 2015. (AINonline.com, July 2)
The Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program can speed you through airport security checkpoints by placing you in special lines and skipping the removal of jackets and shoes and the screening of your liquids and laptop. Trusted travelers will be randomly selected to undergo the full screening occasionally but will be placed at the front of the line when this occurs. (Foxnews.com, July 2)
AIRLINE INDUSTRY NEWS
All Nippon Airways, the launch customer for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, thinks the cabins in the new-age jet should be a bit darker. ANA “says the plane’s electronic dimmable windows are not dark enough for long haul flights and has asked (Boeing) to come up with a way to make the plane’s cabin darker.” In addition to finding a solution for yet-to-be-delivered 787s, ANA also is looking into installing traditional pull-down shades on the 787s already in its fleet. (USAToday.com, June 20)
Delta Air Lines is suspending its routes from Atlanta to Barcelona and Milan for the winter, saying the flights have been affected by high jet fuel costs and global economic conditions. The Atlanta-Barcelona and Atlanta-Milan routes have been operating year-round, but Atlanta-based Delta will suspend both after Oct. 26. The airline said it plans to resume the routes in late March. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 19)
DELTA TESTS THE ‘BASIC ECONOMY’ FARE
To remain sharp in markets where Delta Air Lines faces strong low-cost competitors, the carrier has been testing a bare-bones fare and service model. Out of Detroit to; Orlando, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, Delta offers a basic fare which conveys only the right to sit on the plane with one carry-on bag. No changes or refunds are permitted for any reason and you cannot assign your seat until check-in. (AJC.com, May 26)
DELTA TRIMMING
Delta Air Lines will continue to reduce staff and capacity in the coming year. Since acquiring Northwest in 2008 and combining its workforce, the carrier now has more than 80,000 employees. About 2,000 Delta workers took early retirement last year and the airline is encouraging about that number to retire early this year. In the wake of opening its brand new international terminal at Atlanta, Delta plans to trim trans-Atlantic service by 5 percent and Pacific service by about 2 percent. (AJC.com, May 17)
AIRLINE NEWS
Delta Air Lines plans to offer its Detroit to Paris flights year round starting June 1. Previously Delta intended to only offer this service seasonally, June through August. (USAToday.com, May 8 )
Virgin America may go public sometime next year if market conditions keep trending up and the carrier continues its healthy economic growth. British billionaire, Richard Branson, holding a controlling interest in the airline and founding partners are contemplating an initial public offering. (LATimes.com, May 4)
One million passengers have been screened through the Pre-Check program operated by the TSA thus far and the agency considers this as huge success. Pre-Check grants expedited screening upon check-in at certain airports, to frequent, known travelers, who have voluntarily given personal information. (TheHill.com, May 3)
FEATURED PARTNER: DELTA AIR LINES
With an eye to the future, Delta is adding over 100 flights and 29 destinations to its new hub at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York. This investment represents the largest single expansion by any carrier at LGA in decades. By the summer of 2012, the airline will operate 264 daily flights between LGA and more than 60 cities offering more domestic flights and seats from New York’s three major airports than any other carrier. Delta is also investing $1.2 billion in an enhancement and expansion project for Terminal 4 at JFK, featuring nine new gates and a state-of-the-art gateway scheduled to debut in spring 2013. View videos about the expansion.
FEATURED PARTNER OF THE WEEK – DELTA AIR LINES
Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year, and was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline worldwide in its 2011 World’s Most Admired Companies airline industry list. Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 347 destinations in 64 countries on six continents. The airline’s service includes the, the world’s largest airline loyalty program – SkyMiles; the award-winning BusinessElite service; and more than 50 Delta Sky Clubs in airports worldwide.
