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| Struggling Delta, Northwest dump flights https://forum.costaricaticas.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12473 |
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| Author: | Witling [ Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Struggling Delta, Northwest dump flights |
Struggling Delta, Northwest dump flights http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/ ... usat_x.htm By Dan Reed and Barbara Hansen, USA TODAY Delta and Northwest airlines have shed more flights in the last 12 months than any other U.S. carriers as the two troubled companies scramble to cut costs and match offerings with traveler demand. This month, Delta is offering 14% fewer flights than in July 2005 and Northwest is offering 15% fewer, according to a USA TODAY analysis of schedule data from Back Aviation Solutions. Combined, the airlines and their affiliated carriers have cut more than 1,000 flights a day from July 2005, or about as many flights as offered by the USA's 10th-largest carrier, Alaska Airlines. Those reductions — and cutbacks by other big airlines — are contributing to this summer's crowded air travel experience for U.S. travelers, with well over 80% of the average flight's seats occupied. Northwest and Delta filed for bankruptcy protection on the same day last September. Neither expects to exit until next year. The analysis shows that the airlines' managements have made some similar judgments in deciding how to pare back. •Avoiding rivals. Both reduced service in big markets dominated by rivals. Delta, for example, cut back to 13 departures a day, from 20 a year ago, at Phoenix, home base for US Airways and the third-biggest market for discounter Southwest. Northwest has cut departures 50% to 12 a day at Denver, a hub for United and Frontier. •Looking internationally. Delta has tilted its flying from the money-losing domestic market to less competitive international routes. Half the 60-plus airports where Delta has increased daily flights from July 2005 are outside the USA. Overall, Northwest, operator of a large trans-Pacific network, has cut the number of international flights it offers from a year ago. Yet, it has increased flights in some international markets. It has gone from one to three flights a day between Japan and Guam, for example. •Leaving markets. Delta has pulled out of four small U.S. markets where it operated a year ago: Cedar City, Utah; Hickory, N.C.; New Haven, Conn.; and Newburgh, N.Y. Northwest has abandoned six U.S. markets — Reno; El Paso; Aspen, Colo.; Ontario, Calif.; Gainesville, Fla.; and Rockford, Ill. — as well as Rome and Bermuda. To a large extent, Delta and Northwest are late paring back. Most competitors made their move after the collapse of travel following the Sept. 11 terrorism. "Up until they filed (bankruptcy), both of these airlines probably thought they could fly their way to profitability by adding seats," says Betsy Snyder, airline analyst at Standard & Poor's. Airline consultant Mike Boyd of the Boyd Group in Evergreen, Colo., says the capacity cuts and deep cost-cutting have made both carriers "fundamentally healthy," though not enough yet to exit bankruptcy. |
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