Delta Launching Budget Carrier:
One of America’s leading airlines is preparing to enter the battle against growing competition from low cost carriers with its own budget operation.
Delta Air Lines, the nation’s third largest carrier, is soon to reveal plans for a low fare carrier, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It will have a new name and fly 180-seat Boeing 757 aircraft in competition with the army of budget airlines that are winning business on many US domestic routes.
Delta has been here before, with its Delta Express operation which was launched six years ago but has not lived up to expectations. However, with no-frills operators forecast to grab between 30-40 percent of the domestic market by 2010, Delta feels it has to face up the challenge, said the newspaper.
The new venture is expected to take over many of Delta’s domestic routes next year. It hopes to get more hours of flying out of its fleet by scheduling planes point-to-point and avoiding congested hubs.
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By: MapleLeaf_330 - 15th November 2002 at 18:54
RE: Delta Launching Budget Carrier
Hopefully the no-frills will catch on with travellers (at least leisure), reducing some of the major conjestion that is gripping the hub airports in the United States.
The idea should work. It is catching on here, though slowly, with Tango, Jazz and Zip for Air Canada. By offering some of the frills of the parent carrier such as frequent flyer points, it can be an attractive alternative to the smaller no frills operations (such as Westjet and jetsgo in Canada).
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November 15, 2002 at 3:30 pm