Delta rep says Salt Lake will remain in the airline's picture
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Delta Air Lines representative did not say whether Salt Lake City will retain its hub status, but he said the city definitely will remain in the picture after the airline's restructuring.
"We are committed to this community, and the Salt Lake hub is important to us," Sargon Younan, Delta's Rocky Mountain regional district sales manager, told the Utah Air Travel Commission on Wednesday. "We're looking to become more profitable, and definitely Utah is in that picture."
Younan said details of Delta's restructuring plan will be released in the next two weeks.
Industry analysts have speculated that Delta may have to scrap money-losing leisure routes and smaller hubs like Salt Lake City.
Airport officials continued to decline comment on Delta's restructuring and its possible effect on Salt Lake City International Airport.
Air travel commission member Keith Christensen said he is being careful not to read too much into Younan's statement. "Yeah, he said Salt Lake is definitely in the financial mix (but) I don't think you can read much more or less into that comment."
Delta is seeking $1 billion in concessions from its pilots and has threatened to file for bankruptcy if it doesn't get those cuts.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LambertMan From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 2040 posts, RR: 39 Reply 2, posted (8 years 8 months 3 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 3935 times:
Oh my, those statements sound precariously similar to what AA was saying here in STL. I think its agreed on this board that the wild card in this restructuring is SLC. Everybody has said one thing or another, and it will certain be interesting to find out what DL's plans are.
Kim777fan From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 510 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (8 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 3530 times:
"did not say whether Salt Lake City will retain its hub status, but he said the city definitely will remain in the picture after the airline's restructuring."
Talk about tepid, lukewarm reassurance to officials in Salt Lake City.
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31107 posts, RR: 74 Reply 6, posted (8 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 3479 times:
I don't think they will cut the SLC hubs, but I do think there will be even more RJ flying out of SLC after the cuts are announced. The SLC hub is important part of their western network.
Swardu From United States of America, joined May 2004, 79 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (8 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 3039 times:
I would be a little surprised to see DL pull their "hub status" out of SLC, especially with all the $$$ that has been sunk into the "E" Concourse for the RJ's. But then again, if the O & D's just aren't there, then I guess it's possible. Apparently AA is also thinking about the viability of SLC as a destination as there are rumors circulating that SLC is a money losing city for them, but I've been hearing that for every day of the 8 yrs I spent with AA in SLC, so who knows.
Iowaman From United States of America, joined exactly 9 years ago today! , 4088 posts, RR: 7 Reply 8, posted (8 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 3011 times:
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Watch out for Continental, JetBlue, Frontier and maybe Southwest.
I wouldn't think F9 would try that with DEN being not far away, especially after what happened when they started service in LAX( it was pretty much a failure esp. MSP). B6 doesn't have a whole lot of aircraft at the moment, when the E190's come they may have a few more available. I wouldn't think CO would want to try that, I don't think they would be very interested. WN already has a presence at SLC, that would be the best bet if DL downsized.
Tango-Bravo From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 3725 posts, RR: 31 Reply 9, posted (8 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2890 times:
"We are committed to this community, and the Salt Lake hub is important to us," Sargon Younan, Delta's Rocky Mountain regional district sales manager, told the Utah Air Travel Commission on Wednesday. "We're looking to become more profitable, and definitely Utah is in that picture."
Gotta love this example of airline-speak. Seems to me that an airline (or any business for that matter) must become profitable before it can become more more profitable. Didn't Delta just recently announce a 2Q loss in the billion$? But then again, it seems like a main tenet of airline-speak is to make diametrically opposite statements on the basis of the audience for which statements are intended. Could it actually be that Delta, in the never-never land of airline speak can be making a profit and losing billion$ at the same time?
Ckfred From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 4650 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (8 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2765 times:
AA has been flying to SLC since the early 70s. The flights to ORD have to be somewhat profitable, since WN does not fly SLC-MDW.
SESGDL From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 3384 posts, RR: 11 Reply 11, posted (8 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2763 times:
I don't think that O&D is the major factor for DL at SLC. DL has faired EXTREMELY well at CVG, which is a smaller O&D market than SLC. SLC doesn't benefit from having service to a large number of destinations, unlike SFO, LAS, and DEN, all hubs within just a few hundred miles of SLC. Until DL is able to offer service to more places with more flights, SLC will not be a viable connecting hub. Look at DEN, UA and other carriers offer service to Eastern cities like RDU, BNA, CLT, and others, DL serves BOS, JFK, EWR, IAD, DCA, ATL, and MCO. They simply can't compete with other airlines with a hub like they currently have.
Dobbs764 From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 3 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (8 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 2294 times:
If Delta cuts any hub it should be DFW for the fact that they do fly more RJ's in and out of there. More passangers would rather fly on bigger mainline aircraft than on the RJ's. Delta could pull most of the mainline fleet out of DFW and use them on more profitable routes.
Kim777fan From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 510 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (8 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 1980 times:
"Gotta love this example of airline-speak. Seems to me that an airline (or any business for that matter) must become profitable before it can become more more profitable."
I hear what you're saying, but most people generally consider moving from heavy losses to lighter losses or to the break-even point as becoming "more profitable" even though a profit may not actually be made. His target audience was well aware of DL's financial losses.
Maybe a phrase like "work toward a more economically viable position" would have been more accurate than "more profitable," but that's just bigger words saying the same thing.
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