NEWS> DEVELOPING NEWS: Flights of Not as Fancy
- From: Gleason Sackmann <gleason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: NetHappenings <nethappenings@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 10:37:22 -0600
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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 11:28:19 -0500 (EST)
It is not a well guarded secret that the airline industry has been facing
difficult times in recent years. It is not surprising that in these hard
times there has been much change, experiment or reorganization in the air
travel industry and related industries. The news stories below highlight
how one airline is taking the song to some very high notes measured in
altitude rather than pitch.
------------------
A Sweet Song? Delta Aims at the Low-Fare Market
<http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=7&articleid=715>
On April 15, 2003, a lime-green plane will depart New York City for
Florida. On it ride the hopes of Americas third-largest carrier, as Deltas
new subsidiary, Song, takes wing. With a new staff and new attitude, Delta
is hoping to break into the burgeoning low-fare air travel market to an
extent that United, American and Continental havent been able to achieve.
For Song to succeed, it will have to fly in the face of 20 years of
airline-industry precedent. Major airlines have tried to spawn low-fare
subsidiaries before: Continental had Cal Lite, United had Shuttle By
United, US Airways had MetroJet, and Delta itself is discarding Delta
Express for its new venture. All of these attempts have failed. No
sub-brand has ever succeeded at any carrier anywhere in the world, says
airline consultant and writer Joe Brancatelli.
-----------------------
Delta tests food sales on 16 flights
<http://www.iht.com/articles/86610.html>
Article Delta Air Lines has become the latest carrier
to test in-flight food sales, trying them out last week on 16 flights
between New York and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "It was actually a very
successful test," said Catherine Stengel, a Delta spokeswoman.
-----------------------
American Airlines wants a Song, too
<http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/
2003/02/10/daily36.html>
Delta Air Lines is building a cut-rate division called Song, and now
American Airlines is singing the same tune.
AMR Corp. CFO Jeff Campbell, in a Webcast conference Wednesday, confirmed
American is looking at creating a discount subsidiary of its own.
-----------------------
Delta Lets 'Song' Loose in Low-Fare Market
January 29, 2003
By Julie MacIntosh
<http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Business/reuters20030129_560.html>
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines <DAL.N>, seeking to win customers
lost to discount carriers, said on Wednesday it will launch a new low-fare
airline with some of the key features and routes that have made JetBlue
Airways Corp. <JBLU.O> a star in a struggling industry.
The new airline, called Song, will offer one-way fares ranging from $79 to
$299, and operate flights between the Northeastern U.S. and Florida
Starting in April.
Song's lime-green planes will be equipped with in-flight live satellite
television that was pioneered by JetBlue, as well as personal touch-screen
monitors, pay-per-view, an MP3 audio library and in-seat Internet
connections.
-----------------------
Wired for Song
By Bryan Corliss
Herald Writer
<http://heraldnet.com/Stories/03/2/10/16463662.cfm?cityid=21>
Passengers on a new airline called Song will get their music from a
company headquartered in Bothell.
Matsushita Aviation Systems will provide the in-flight entertainment
system for Song, Delta Air Lines' soon-to-be-launched low-fare subsidiary.
It's a key win for MAS, which is a subsidiary of Japanese Matsushita
Corp., a diversified electronics company best known as the maker of
Panasonic-brand products.
-----------------------
[This Delta innovation is attracting international attention as indicated
by the stories immediately above and below. Below is a Bloomberg story
carried in the Taipei Times]
Delta offers free accoutrements on cheap flights
With a new domestic subsidiary called Song, the airline is seeking ways to
trim costs without appearing excessively frugal
By Doron Levin
BLOOMBERG
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003,Page 12
<http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/bizfocus/archives/2003/02/09/193956>
Delta Air Lines' new low-fare airline won't reduce costs by leasing
storage space in overhead bins, nor will it rent them pillows and exit
maps.
Editorial cartoonists and stand-up comics have been having a grand time
satirizing low-fare, low-cost airlines. The high-fare network carriers
aren't laughing; they are copying the upstarts with deadly seriousness.
"Song," Delta's new domestic subsidiary announced Jan. 29, will charge for
in-flight meals, snacks and movies. All tickets will be one-way and cost
from US$79 to US$299.
Song also hopes to minimize distribution costs by selling as much as 70
percent of its tickets through its Web site and agents, though it will pay
commissions to independent travel agents.
-----------------------
Flights to the Northeast, for a Song
New subsidiary of Delta Airlines to offer bargain flights out of Southwest
Florida International Airport
Thursday, February 6, 2003
By JOHN HENDERSON, jfhenderson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<http://www.naplesnews.com/03/02/business/d900169a.htm>
Delta recently posted a four-quarter net loss of $363 million. The
industry has been struggling since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Discount airlines like JetBlue and Southwest Airlines have drawn business
and leisure travelers away from the major carriers.
Delta has cut back its Delta Express service since the terrorist attacks,
and Song will replace Delta Express.
Delta said it will spend about $65 million to launch Song. Delta is
reconfiguring 36 Boeing 757s from two classes of service to all-coach with
199 seats. Song will offer personal video monitors at every seat with
touch-screen technology, including credit-card swipe capability. The
company is also entering into agreements with retailers to sell products
to passengers while they are on the plane, Cassidy said. All of Song's
planes will be equipped with video screens carrying 24 channels of
satellite television, Internet connections, and video games that let
passengers play against each other.
-----------------------
UPDATE 1-Delta unveils new low-fare "Song" airline
Reuters, 01.29.03, 9:25 AM ET
Forbes
<http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/newswire/2003/01/29/rtr862812.html>
-----------------------
Delta's Song Could Rock JetBlue
Lisa DiCarlo, 01.29.03, 2:15 PM ET
Forbes
<http://www.forbes.com/home_asia/2003/01/29/cx_ld_0129delta.html>
NEW YORK - It took Delta Air Lines more than three years to answer JetBlue
Airways' assault on its business in the busy Northeast-to-Florida
corridor, but now its hand has finally been forced. Delta's discount
carrier, called Song, will launch in April, but will JetBlue be singing
the blues?
The new Delta (nyse: DAL - news - people ) subsidiary will mimic JetBlue
(nasdaq: JBLU - news - people ) in that it will fly single-class planes
direct from the Northeast to several cities in Florida. According to Song
spokesperson Stacy Geagan, Delta will "gut and rebuild" existing 757s, "so
they look and feel like new."
The planes will have a mixture of paid and free digital services such as
satellite television, MP3 audio, video-on-demand and videogames. JetBlue
heavily promotes its free satellite television and leather seats; Delta
will have both.
-----------------------
Delta President Frederick Reid Addresses the Future of Commercial
Aviation; Airlines Will Win on Cost, Partnerships and Product
Diversification
Tuesday February 4, 12:08 pm ET
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030204/attu016_1.html>
"We must evolve as an industry," Reid said in his remarks. "September 11
was the meteor strike that altered our ecosystem forever, as measured by
the dramatic decline in revenue since that day."
The full text of the remarks by President Frederick Reid may be found at
this URL:
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030204/attu016_1.html>
-----------------------
Actually, while I, not unlike others on this topic, could not resist a pun
in my title about this new service, the flights look to provide much in
the way of ammenities, even if some are provided to the consumer at added
cost. Access to such high technology resources may greatly entice
customers to use this low cost flight option. Those teaching courses in
which the topic of changes in an industry in troubled times is a germaine
area for course content or student research, may find studies of the
airline industry in this decade to be a powerful topic for exploring how
outside events impact and change corporations and industries.
Sincerely,
David Dillard Research Librarian
david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ECP RingLeader
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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