A discussion about the airline industry, airline employees, and all things related

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines:  A Southern Key

Delta Air Lines is something of a long shot when it comes to a merger partner; though their strong hold on that key southern airport, Atlanta, makes them a valuable option.  Their recent troubles with union and labor groups, their massive debt loads, and a very large international expansion that is seen by many people to be a calculated gamble have all contributed to the possibility that Delta may face liquidation out of all the airlines in bankruptcy now and previously. 

Delta Air Lines has done some good things whilst in Chapter 11, however their needs to be drastic changes throughout the company in order to keep the company from liquidating.  Delta has scrapped their horrible attempt, Song, to compete with those low cost carriers.  Bring back the Boeing 757 fleet into the mainline helps increase capacity oversees and on domestic routes where Delta can make profits instead of competing with LCC’s. 

Their recent international expansion is something that many experts are not so sure Delta knows what they are doing. By flooding the international market with too many flights, Delta could start to compete with themselves, thus creating the same problem of losing money on routes that were suppose to be profitable.  Continental's CEO, a fellow SkyTeam Alliance member, has said he hopes Delta looses their shirts on this expansion. 

While their expansion been fast and furious but their recent squabbles with the unions and labor groups have kept Delta from pursuing any further.  Currently their regional partner, ComAir, has been told to go back to the table and renegotiate contracts after a judge said no to throwing out current contracts with flight attendants.  Their pilots, who just recently accepted a major pay cut and are facing dissolving their pension program, nearly went on strike, which could have forced the company to go out of business. 

So what would United Airlines want with a company that is so troubled with labor plight, financial difficulties, and a route expansion that could cost them their shirts?  Simply put, Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta!

Atlanta:  A Southern Bell of a City

Atlanta recently became a super hub for Delta when they pulled back hub service from Dallas in order to cut costs.  This created an additional 100 flights per day that were spread more evenly across the day in Atlanta.  Today Delta Air Lines operates nearly 1,400 flights per day and carried over 119 million passengers in 2005.  Atlanta is a major component of their network.  Delta’s network is so entrenched in the south that most other carriers have been unsuccessful, except for low cost carrier, AirTran.  Atlanta is a large market with very large companies that travel a lot, and business travel is key for an airline.