Delta is continuing to add new routes in Austin, at the same time that American keeps reducing its presence at the airport, as flagged by Ishrion Aviation. I’m curious to see how this plays out, and if it works out in the long run, or if Delta’s expansion ends up having the same fate as American’s.
In this post:
Delta adds new routes & flights from Austin
As of spring of 2025, Delta will be adding five new routes out of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). The airline will fly to:
- Panama City (ECP) as of March 9, 2025
- Indianapolis (IND) as of May 7, 2025
- Memphis (MEM) as of May 7, 2025
- San Francisco (SFO) as of June 8, 2025
- Tampa (TPA) as of June 8, 2025
For context, earlier in 2024, we saw the airline add flights from Austin to Harlingen (VIA), Midland-Odessa (MAF), McAllen (MFE), and Nashville (BNA). Prior to that, in late 2023, the airline added flights from Austin to Las Vegas (LAS) and Orlando (MCO).
Delta’s other destinations out of Austin include Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Cincinnati (CVG), Detroit (DTW), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), Raleigh (RDU), Salt Lake City (SLC), and Seattle (SEA). With the latest additions, Delta has plans to operate 21 routes out of the airport.
With its expansion in Austin over the past year, Delta has started positioning Austin as a key access point to facilitate connections to its entire network. Prior to that, Delta exclusively approached Austin as a point-to-point market, while now the airline is increasingly selling flights with Austin as a connecting point, in particular for some of the intra-Texas routes.
Will Delta’s Austin expansion continue, and last?
The airline industry is a funny business. Airlines expand into markets for all kinds of reasons, even if the service isn’t necessarily profitable. Sometimes they expand for competitive reasons, to keep other airlines out of a market, and view it as part of a larger network strategy. Sometimes airlines also are willing to lose money in a market for an extended period of time, thinking that once they reach a critical mass of service, it will become profitable.
For a couple of years, American massively tried to expand its presence in Austin, operating flights to over three dozen airports. Then the airline totally undid that growth, and now Austin is a market where American almost exclusively just flies to other hubs. American had reportedly been losing money on that expansion all along.
So, how will this play out for Delta? First of all, it’s worth acknowledging that Delta has more of a strategic benefit to growing in Austin, since the airline doesn’t otherwise have a hub in the region, unlike American in Dallas (DFW), and United in Houston (IAH).
I could see merit to Delta growing in Austin in the long run, though the challenge is that the airport doesn’t currently have much space to grow, and is highly congested.
So I’m not sure what to think about how this will play out. My guess is that Delta will continue slowly but surely expanding in Austin, and that it could be a market the airline is increasingly focused on, just due to the geography. But whether or not the market becomes profitable for the airline remains to be seen. Delta is willing to stick things out for a long time, as long as the airline views it as part of a larger strategy.
Bottom line
Delta is continuing to expand in Austin, with five new routes. Specifically, as of the spring of 2025, Delta will add flights to Indianapolis, Memphis, Panama City, San Francisco, and Tampa. It’s interesting to see Delta’s continued growth here, after American is more or less abandoning the market.
What do you make of Delta’s Austin expansion?
Delta never should have ceded DFW to AA.
Despite being 1/5th AA's size, unable to drive a revenue premium in a single competitive market, and consistently losing money? Why should they have "never" stopped that?
SFO to support Twitter (nka X) relocation to AUS...
I don’t understand adding ECP… isn’t Austin within a decent drive to the TX beaches?
South Padre Island is an okay beach, but Galveston waters are the color of Dr. Pepper. I live in DFW and travel to time to Destin, FL is only 2 more hours than South Padre, so it’s a no brainer with an overnight in NOLA as a bonus. I’m surprised AUS-VPS didn’t work out for AA. You typically see more TX license plates in Destin than any other non-FL state.
"You typically see more TX license plates in Destin than any other non-FL state."
No, this part of Florida is dominated by Alabama, Georgia & Louisiana tags.
I lived in Dallas for twenty years. One trip to Galveston one trip to South Padre. My thoughts were I could fly to South Florida or Puerto Rico in less time and see beautiful beaches and waters.
an especially dark day for me when, but for ATL flights DL closed its Dallas hub in '04. It had never made money, DL was in severe financial troubles. It now has flights to its hubs from DFW, but nothing like the 'flights to everywhere'. Austin has mushroomed in size, but for business and pleasure passengers it can't compare to DFW and Houston. (Sixth Street is dangerous, recreational sites jammed with all the new locals,...
an especially dark day for me when, but for ATL flights DL closed its Dallas hub in '04. It had never made money, DL was in severe financial troubles. It now has flights to its hubs from DFW, but nothing like the 'flights to everywhere'. Austin has mushroomed in size, but for business and pleasure passengers it can't compare to DFW and Houston. (Sixth Street is dangerous, recreational sites jammed with all the new locals, streets and infrastructure designed for 150,000, not 10 times that). If DL has enough pilots that it can put some on small planes, can find Gates for them, they won't lose as much as AA.
"Sixth Street is dangerous"
First Bangkok now downtown Austin... You sure are one big scaredy-cat.
Oh, @Fordamist is totally right... if you get falling down drunk and fall off the sidewalk in front of a car that is, somehow, going more than 10 miles an hour. Then sixth street is totally dangerous. It's also hazardous to your wallet. But otherwise, I can think of a dozen places in Austin alone that are more dangerous than sixth street... like I-35 and 183.
DL lacks a Southwestern hub so it's easier for DL to make AUS work. Versus AA that has a massive hub less than 200 miles away.
Delta is clearly just a superior airline to American.
That is a pretty low bar to clear, though.
Usually the 'arguments' boil down to having the largest fleet (and if not, then from a certain perspective or scenario where certain aircraft are included or excluded), the number of hubs, destinations and, of course, the holy balance sheet. If something inexplicable happens, then we just call it (long term) strategy. We just don't say how long or what strategy. After all, Delta works in mysterious ways. Or was it God? Or is there actually...
Usually the 'arguments' boil down to having the largest fleet (and if not, then from a certain perspective or scenario where certain aircraft are included or excluded), the number of hubs, destinations and, of course, the holy balance sheet. If something inexplicable happens, then we just call it (long term) strategy. We just don't say how long or what strategy. After all, Delta works in mysterious ways. Or was it God? Or is there actually any difference between the two?
Anyway, by these metrics, Ryanair is the most premium airline in Europe. Just sayin'...
Some of these just seem random--like Panama City and Indianapolis. I get the general logic of Austin expansion. Any insight into the specific choices?
Southwest currently flies IND-AUS. American used to but cut the route. Since SW flies it there must be demand (not completely new addition). Also Delta used to have a lot of non-hub flights out of IND before COVID
Can't speak for Panama City, but Indianapolis is definitely not random.
Amazon has significant regional offices in IND, and AUS is IINM its 4th largest GCO (global corporate office) in the US, after Seattle, NYC, and DC (Herndon, VA). Indianapolis is its fastest-growing, with 13,000+ corporate employees based out of that regional office, and a further 11,000 working in processing and fulfillment (though the latter aren't likely to do corporate travel).
It's worth noting...
Can't speak for Panama City, but Indianapolis is definitely not random.
Amazon has significant regional offices in IND, and AUS is IINM its 4th largest GCO (global corporate office) in the US, after Seattle, NYC, and DC (Herndon, VA). Indianapolis is its fastest-growing, with 13,000+ corporate employees based out of that regional office, and a further 11,000 working in processing and fulfillment (though the latter aren't likely to do corporate travel).
It's worth noting that, with these adds, Delta is already connecting AUS to most of Amazon's 23 other GCOs and major regional offices. Only ones missing are Portland, Pittsburgh (which I'm betting will be in their next round of route additions)....
....as well as Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Denver, and Phoenix, which present an obvious reason for not (yet) being added.
Amazon is a major Delta corporate contract and part of the reason for DL's SEA buildup.
It isn't surprising that DL isn't focusing on other airline hubs - which makes it all the more interesting that they are adding SFO which has 2 other legacy carriers on it.
Hard to see how Delta competes with United with its many mainline flights a day to SFO, or with WN with its many mainline flights a day to SJC, when they are only going to be flying an A220 to the Bay. It’s just not going to be as flexible option for the business heavy route.
Same thought. AS also regularly has 2-4x daily between AUS and SFO. DL's flight is in the middle of the day SFO-AUS and late AM AUS-SFO, neither are ideal times.
I'm sure that DL would love to jump on that (and any other AUS) route with a half-dozen daily 737s/A32X, but that's just not feasible with their available gates and current competitive status in the market.
New midfield gates, and a ton of money dumped into both (1) prying/bribing away corporate contracts from competitors, and (2) advertising their market presence.... then maybe. But that's probably 7-10yrs out from now. Not dissimilar to what we saw...
I'm sure that DL would love to jump on that (and any other AUS) route with a half-dozen daily 737s/A32X, but that's just not feasible with their available gates and current competitive status in the market.
New midfield gates, and a ton of money dumped into both (1) prying/bribing away corporate contracts from competitors, and (2) advertising their market presence.... then maybe. But that's probably 7-10yrs out from now. Not dissimilar to what we saw in JFK, and later SEA and BOS.
You don't always have to be the dominant carrier in a market for that market to be successful for you. I'm sure DL can fill at least one plane per day AUS-SFO, and I'm guessing they're sure they can too. Yeah, they'd love to fly it 5x and be the carrier of choice, but over-growth tanks the market and elicits competitive response. Serving SFO (with little or no profit) is still net positive because it...
You don't always have to be the dominant carrier in a market for that market to be successful for you. I'm sure DL can fill at least one plane per day AUS-SFO, and I'm guessing they're sure they can too. Yeah, they'd love to fly it 5x and be the carrier of choice, but over-growth tanks the market and elicits competitive response. Serving SFO (with little or no profit) is still net positive because it helps build loyalty by providing network utility to AUS-based flyers. You can see the same strategy employed with Delta launching SEA-DFW despite being drowned out by AS/AA frequencies.
It's to go after United and the tech folks between Austin and silicon valley.
I'm glad they added Tampa had called that one. Wish they would get into DCA, but glad Delta is expanding in Austin about time.
As mentioned in the article, DL's strength is playing the long game. Austin looks like long term potential if played right with patience which is lacking at UA & AA. Delta can use Delta Connect to test the waters as time progresses. Getting Euro SkyTeam airlines into AUS would add to the leverage and elevate it to Focus city status.
Hopefully you'll give us an update in a year to see how well this expansion goes.
Was really hopping to see Lubbock added in this round. Oh well, maybe next one.
Did you want to hop over to Lubbock @ImmortalSynn?
There shouldn’t be any doubt with these new cities that Delta intends to build a hub and not just a focus city in Austin
Supposedly, airlines are making commitments for gates not just now but for the new terminal which is to be built. These new flights undoubtedly are part of the plan to get gates now and in the future.
SFO is most notable. DL has been very careful not to step...
There shouldn’t be any doubt with these new cities that Delta intends to build a hub and not just a focus city in Austin
Supposedly, airlines are making commitments for gates not just now but for the new terminal which is to be built. These new flights undoubtedly are part of the plan to get gates now and in the future.
SFO is most notable. DL has been very careful not to step on UA’s toes at IAH. No BOS or SEA. All bets are off with AUS
Now that DL’s hub building in Boston and Seattle is slowing down, they are clearly ready to build yet another hub in Austin
DL's SEA hub isn't profitable. It is subsidized by profit elsewhere in the system. The TPAC network is kind of a joke. Many routes can't be sustained daily from SEA. BOS does continue to grow a bit but there too, there are limits.
DL's AUS adventure is to create relevance in Texas, which DL doesn't have, given DFW, DAL, and IAH and HOU. Either way, the key to profit in AUS is being firmly rooted...
DL's SEA hub isn't profitable. It is subsidized by profit elsewhere in the system. The TPAC network is kind of a joke. Many routes can't be sustained daily from SEA. BOS does continue to grow a bit but there too, there are limits.
DL's AUS adventure is to create relevance in Texas, which DL doesn't have, given DFW, DAL, and IAH and HOU. Either way, the key to profit in AUS is being firmly rooted in the corporate traffic market there, which has ebbed and flowed, not the leisure market.
"DL's SEA hub isn't profitable."
This again? Seriously?
Last year, 95% of DL’s routes out of SEA were in the bottom 40% across the system. Of that 95%, most were in the bottom 20% and exclude flights to other DL hubs and a few select markets. None were in the top 40%.
Domestic for SEA makes up 90% by flights, 85% of seats, and 66% of ASMs. DTW and ATL which have a similar ratio of domestic and international saw only 25%...
Last year, 95% of DL’s routes out of SEA were in the bottom 40% across the system. Of that 95%, most were in the bottom 20% and exclude flights to other DL hubs and a few select markets. None were in the top 40%.
Domestic for SEA makes up 90% by flights, 85% of seats, and 66% of ASMs. DTW and ATL which have a similar ratio of domestic and international saw only 25% or less of routes in the bottom 40%.
There’s 7 longhauls out of SEA: LHR is struggling, TPE is developing, and across the DL system PVG/HND are in 0 growth despite growth from AA and UA. The data that shows SEA is the laggard of all US hubs also show ATL and DTW as the top 2 for DL.
International, like cargo, is a minority of revenue. It cannot resuscitate an entire hub’s struggling domestic and passenger operation.
@DL Marketing Premium,
That's an awfully long way to say that you have no idea what the profitability numbers are/arent.
Larry,
feel free to provide us the hub profitability not just for DL at SEA but for every other hub.
Since AA and a whole lot of other airlines are expected to just break even for most of the rest of the year, it is likely they have multiple hubs losing money.
And it still comes down to, if DL can have all of these money-losing hubs that the internet thinks they have,...
Larry,
feel free to provide us the hub profitability not just for DL at SEA but for every other hub.
Since AA and a whole lot of other airlines are expected to just break even for most of the rest of the year, it is likely they have multiple hubs losing money.
And it still comes down to, if DL can have all of these money-losing hubs that the internet thinks they have, why haven't other airlines figured out how to have megaprofitable hubs just like Delta?
DL has just managed to be more profitable and think longer term. With BOS and SEA growth slowing, DL has the ability to grow in other markets.
With the new concourse gate assignments at AUS up for grabs, DL is willing to put the flag down now.
Jason,
you still haven't figured out that there are 24 time zones and this is the WORLD WIDE web?
roberto,
DL is #2 at DFW, Love Field, Hobby and now AUS.
Good for all of the passengers that connect in Texas at other airline hubs but the fact that DL manages to be #2 in 3 major Texas metro areas with minimal connections (that is changing for AUS) says that DL isn't as insignificant as you want to think they are.
Morning Mr. Dunn ;-)
It’s really early on Saturday, had great time drinking last night? Or catching an early Delta flight?
These adds will clearly cement Delta as the #4 airline in TX.
Interested in your thoughts on delta vs united in Houston given your comment. DL seems to be eating united's lunch between atl and houston: 12 flights to 6 daily (2 of the latter are regional jets!). This discrepancy was not so large last fall. As Houston locals we usually fly United, but always delta on this route (I still keep my DL CC after leaving memphis). I wish delta would open a skyclub and add a handful of routes. I think they could be successful.
I use Google flights to search non-stop flights between IAH and ATL. On September 30, UA schedules 5 flights and DL offers 7 flights. Yes, Delta has more service but not as dramatic as you mention. UAL does need to increase domestic flights from their under utilized hubs in IAD and IAH.
Barry,
the airline with the largest hub almost always ends up being the largest carrier on a particular market.
DL is the largest carrier in just about every market from ATL to every other airport including other airline hubs - EWR, DCA, ORD, DEN etc.
It is for this same reason that DL decided it wasn't worth trying to be #2 to AA at DFW and closed its hub there, shifting resources to NYC and ATL - and yet DL still is the #2 airline in the local DFW and DAL markets.
They lead DAL because they have 5 flights to ATL. I can’t wait to see what response you come up with when AA gets gates at DAL….
There is no room for flight schedule expansion at Love Field.
In order for AA to start flying there on more than a token basis, AS will have to leave
If you’re including Love Field wouldn’t Southwest be the number two carrier in the DFW market?
Delta - The world's only PERFECT airline.
maybe Delta is testing the waters in AUS to see if it's a better place to deploy planes than Seattle ;)
both/and not either/or