Over the past weeks, we have seen multiple airlines announce new routes. Air Berlin started new flights to the US. Rwandair plans on announcing flights to New York. British Airways is going to announce flights to Nashville. Hong Kong Airlines to go to LAX. United will restart flight from Denver to London. Now that you are up to date with most of the new international routes to the US, there’s more. Delta plans on announcing flights from Orlando to Amsterdam.
Delta in Orlando
The airline has long been interested in having a regional base in Orlando. They have a large presence in the airport, as do their partners. Delta currently flies to Sao Paulo from the airport using a 767. Virgin Atlantic can have up to four 747s at the airport from cities such as Manchester, London, Belfast, among others. Besides those two airlines, Skyteam has a minimal presence in the airport. Neither Air France nor KLM fly to MCO. The new Delta flight to Amsterdam could possibly be a result of the new partnership between Virgin, Delta, KLM and Air France. This Joint Venture would make it easier for the airlines to coordinate schedules and costs for these flights. That may make the trans Atlantic flight economically reasonable.
What to Expect?
Delta flies their 767 on most trans Atlantic flights. I would not be surprised if they used another 767 given this, and the fact that it would be interchangeable with the 767 that flies to Sao Paulo. Delta offers a solid product on Delta One, with quality food and lie flat seats. I expect to see codeshares from Air France and KLM on this route.
Delta’s Empire
Delta is a company that I love and hate. They are the best run airline company in the US. Their market capitalization (the value of their outstanding stocks) is the highest, eclipsing the other two legacy carriers American and United. Yet, I see them as imperialistic. They are aggressively expanding into markets that have long been fortresses of other carriers. The best examples are Seattle and Boston. Even besides these two cities, Delta has launched flights from Philadelphia, Raleigh and Newark to London, in direct competition with American and United respectively.
This is wonderful from a consumer perspective as it lowers prices. I am a big fan of competition and I encourage Delta to continue doing this. However, I feel their intention is not to compete, but price out the competition and then raise prices. If they are able to run out jetBlue in Boston, and Alaska in Seattle, they will probably raise prices substantially. We will have to see what happens.
Landing Thoughts
Delta is America’s best airline, however much I don’t like to admit it. I am happy to see them continue to expand and provide competition for consumers. I expect to see Delta continue to expand their operations in Orlando, or at least see Skyteam increase their presence there. Delta will provide a quality product from Orlando to a currently unserved market. Now if only they would improve their elite program and offer award charts. *sigh* I can dream. Lol.
What do you think? Are you planning on taking advantage of this new flight? Are you a #DeltaLover or #NoDelta person? Let us know!
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Images from Wikipedia.
