DL is certainly not above doing this IMO.

Not sure what you want from the company? They served pdx-nrt for years and operated a quasi hub from nrt. The game has changed and after getting the route initially approved the company obviously feels it can’t make money on that route. Without a Japanese partner it’s hard to justify a wide body from pdx-hnd. They asked to switch slot to one of our hubs to be able to fill a wide body. DOT says no, lose money or give up slot. Delta says ok it’s your slot. Not sure why you’d want your company to lose money on a route because the govt says pdx or bust. These kinds of deals are way the airlines spend $$$millions annually greasing the skids of DC.

Just stating it as a matter of fact, as is the case now. Not a criticism per se, just that DL would squat on a slot so as not to lose it. I do hope that we are able to ultimately keep it in the re-bid process. But the company has so far been pretty tight lipped about what hub they would ask for approval to operate from the next time around.

They haven’t operated the route in 3 years now. I guess the yields on the other routes are telling them they can’t make money. Maybe they don’t have the right equipment but Japan has a massive booming tourist industry. Fares this summer were crazy high and weeks went by without a single seat open to ANY market out of Japan. Does the slot require them to fly daily even in the slow seasons? Hopefully they can win it back out of another airport. I just read they announced they are starting HNL back up (someone said they might give that slot up too but it doesn’t sound like it).

Weird, almost as though something happened three years ago that suddenly changed the airline industry and world travel habits. May need more investigating.....

Sounds like you know alot about the Japanese market and tourism demand from PDX. Maybe make a presentation about the yield potential to Network

If we can't make this route work with a 767 then I doubt anybody will. Haneda access could work at a hub but nowhere else. With KAL and Asiana, ICN is our Asia hub. HND will never be what NRT was.

A350 has had a resurgence this year, certainly makes negotiating harder. Probably had a better shot at a good deal last year if they went and signed on the dotted line when first rumored.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/air-fran...rder-1.1976027

Delta owns roughly 10% of AF/KL and (at least used to?) have a seat on their board. Fingers crossed they can work a “friends and family referral code” on A351s.

With all the latest A350 orders does this put Boeing back into the picture ie B787-10 & B777x?