Originally Posted by
Rabid Seagull
Attention all airlines (except Delta):
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Delta executive urges restraint on capacity
Posted on December 2, 2009 at 10:08 AM
Updated today at 10:08 AM
ATLANTA (AP) — A Delta Air Lines Inc. executive urged other carriers Wednesday to be careful not to increase the amount of flying they do too quickly.
Chief Financial Officer Hank Halter said at a New York investor conference that was broadcast on the Internet that even if a modest recovery occurs in 2010, the world's biggest airline hopes the industry maintains flat capacity.
Capacity is measured by the amount of available seats a carrier offers, times the miles flown.
Halter said Delta could eventually increase capacity 1 percent to 2 percent once demand shows strong signs of coming back. He says demand won't really gain steam until passengers feel that the recession is firmly in the rearview mirror and it is safe to spend.
"People are holding onto their money still," Halter said in his presentation during the Morgan Stanley Transportation Corporate Access Day. "When they are flying, they are flying in the back of the aircraft."
Many carriers have shed capacity over the last 18 months. The impact of the recession on business travel has been especially painful for airlines, which rely on sales of premium seats to boost revenue.
"The challenge for the industry is to make sure we don't come back and start flooding the market with more capacity ... when the demand isn't there," Halter said.
It's absolutely a case of Delta of saying "DO AS WE SAY NOT AS WE DO!!!"
HYPOCRITES because on the same day they state all this above, they follow it with:
Delta Adding New Flights to Hawaii
Detroit, San Diego gain nonstop routes to Honolulu
ATLANTA, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:
DAL -
News) today announced it will introduce nonstop flights connecting Honolulu with Detroit and San Diego, beginning in June. The new service marks the first time Delta has served Honolulu from San Diego and reinstates nonstop service from Detroit that had been discontinued in 2004.
"The expanded customer base created through Delta's merger with Northwest allows us to bring new service to markets that previously did not have the demand to sustain nonstop flights," said Bob Cortelyou, Delta's senior vice president - Network Planning. "Detroit to Honolulu nonstop service provides greater access to Hawaii for customers in Michigan, the eastern U.S. and Canada, while our new route between San Diego and Honolulu will expand Delta's extensive flight schedules between the West Coast and Hawaii."
As a leading carrier to the Hawaiian Islands, Delta currently offers passengers 106 weekly flights between Hawaii and nine worldwide destinations. Delta operates its largest gateway to Hawaii at Los Angeles International Airport with an average of five daily round-trip departures to four Hawaiian destinations - Honolulu, Maui, Lihue and Kona. In addition to new local nonstop service beginning in June 2010, Detroit and San Diego customers will continue to have convenient connecting access to additional Hawaiian destinations via Los Angeles. Delta offers five daily round-trip flights between Detroit and Los Angeles and will add five daily round-trip flights between San Diego and Los Angeles, effective Feb. 11, 2010.