Delta Will Fly Airbus A350s From Seattle As Of 2025

yolo
I am going to push back on your statements:
"SEA performs well internationally for Delta, even if domestically they don’t. This is why Delta keeps SEA around because they are unable to perform at this level with LAX."

How does DL manage to support at least 2 underperforming hubs at SEA and LAX - and other people throw in BOS and LGA and/or JFK and still end up with the highest profits in the US airline industry?

The excuses that DL gouges its customers from ATL, DTW, MSP and SLC make no sense given that all of those hubs are predominantly connecting airports and DL's local market revenues in those hubs are known and they are not out of line with the industry.

And If DL really was able to support 2 or 3 or more medium sized money-losing hubs and still be the most profitable, how is that AA and UA haven't figured out how to the same and have larger networks - either internationally esp. for AA or domestically for UA?

You do realize that DL's total operation is about 30% larger than AA and UA at LAX?

and, more significantly, given that AA and UA post smaller profits than DL, where do AA and UA lose money on their networks since they, by your own belief, not lose money in whole regions of the country?

The biggest factor that will decide the future of AS and DL's competition vs. each other is labor costs. AS employees have accepted that AS could pay them lower because AS is not a nationwide global carrier as the big 3 are. That went out the window with AS' announcement of intending to turn SEA into a global hub... AS will have major international operations at HNL and SEA, both high cost cities.

There is no reason for AS employees (including the merged HA employees) to accept 2nd tier wages compared to the big 4 including WN.

We have consistently seen US airlines choke on high labor costs post covid, which, btw, DL largely set with the first major pilot contract settlement and the first increase - with boarding pay - for its FAs which was passed along to ground personnel.

is it possible, if not likely, that you and others simply don't want to accept the reality that DL has successfully expanded its network into highly competitive coastal markets even as AA and UA have not changed their network footprint since their mergers?
Is it possible that AS is going to see the same problem w/ labor costs that every other airline - including DL to an extent, is seeing which is squeezing the little guys?
Is it possible that, if there is a "subsidy" going on, it is that DL can afford to operate in highly congested airspace because of its revenue premium and so can keep the aircraft and crews on standby to fix the operational problems that are part of operating in SEA, NYC and BOS?

time will show that DL is going to keep growing in SEA and LAX and AS and DL can each do their own thing but the notion that one will win at the expense of the other is not only a stretch but is actually counter to what has happened in BOS, NYC and LAX.

first, it is not a fact that
"It's a fact that Delta's domestic yields at SEA are amongst the worst in the US."
It is a fact that someone took PARTS of DL's fare data and made broad statements and comparisons with partial data.
it really isn't too hard for any person that understands how the industry works to see that - which SHOULD include you - but you clearly are more interested in repeating hearsay than doing your own analysis and in logically thinking through the implications of what is suggested.

and, if your statement that DL can do well in LAX domestically but not internationally while the reverse is true about SEA, how can DL manage to support two "crippled" hubs and still generate the US industry's highest profits but AA and UA can't?

It's not a difficult question but it does involve logically thinking through what is being said and not just mindlessly repeating the same thing that other people say.

that's not a comment about you - you are fairly rational which is why I engaged you - but about the line of argument and logic, or lack thereof.

And if DL's advantage is JV's, then tell us how AS is going to succeed at expanding into the international marketplace without JVs - and if they do get them, tell us why AA esp. will want them since doing so WILL hurt AA as much if not more than it helps AS.

and then tell us where AA and UA lose money on their networks since they don't seem to have these money-losing hubs that everyone thinks DL has and yet still come up w/ lower profits.

and then don't forget to explain the labor cost issue.
and the question still remains how DL manages to

once again, using cherrypicked data, you can come up w/ any statement.

No, Julie, it isn't a fact.

You of all people would be the last person to understand or admit it.

And since you are here, how about YOU tell us all how AA or UA haven't figured out how to grow their network and lose money in hubs and still end up as the most profitable US airline
AS WELL AS
where AA and UA lose money since they generate lower profits than anyone else?

I'll be waiting just like I have been every time I post the question.

yolo,
it is beyond ironic that you comment about DL's sole flight to Europe from LAX while ignoring the fact that UA serves just a single city in E. Asia (Tokyo) from every other hub outside of CA (IAH, DEN, ORD, EWR, IAD) while DL serves 2 or more E. Asian cities from ATL, DTW, and MSP. If the criteria for not successfully serving a region from a hub is having only one destination, then UA is in a world of hurt from the eastern US to East Asia.
Or your criteria is a hypocritically made up factor that is easy to debunk and which you really don't want to debate.