US airlines continue to increase capacity in October to support growing demand (Part 2 of 8)

(Continued from Part 1)

Domestic market drives traffic growth

In October 2014, Delta’s passenger traffic increased, but its cargo traffic declined. The airline’s passenger revenue per available seat mile (or PRASM), or unit revenue, increased by 3% year-over-year. Delta’s October 2014 PRASM shows the company’s ability to generate higher revenues per seat, an essential factor in increasing its margins.

Traffic, or revenue passenger miles (or RPM), is calculated as the number of paying passengers multiplied by the total distance traveled. Delta Air Lines, Inc.’s (DAL) RPM increased by 4.8% year-over-year (or Y-O-Y) to 17,037 million, driven by higher growth in the domestic market.

• Domestic market RPM increased by 6.9%.
• International market RPM increased by 1.8%. In the international market, volume increased only in the Latin American market by 13.9%. There was a slight year-over-year decline in traffic in both the Atlantic and Pacific regions.

The year-to-date traffic growth also showed higher growth in domestic passenger traffic at 4.8% than in the international market, at 3.3%. Plus, cargo ton miles, which measures freight traffic, increased by 1.1% during the same period.

Higher growth in international capacity

The growth in traffic for Delta Air Lines (DAL) was supported by a 3.6% growth in capacity in October. This represents the third highest capacity growth recorded that month among the top six airlines. Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) recorded the highest growth, 10.9%, followed by JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU), which recorded 7.6% growth. Capacity growth for United (UAL), American (AAL), and Southwest (LUV) was less than 1%.

Delta’s capacity growth in October was higher in the international market. International available seat miles (or ASMs) increased by 4.3%, although utilization declined by 2.1%. The highest growth, 14.8%, was recorded in the Latin American market. Because there was good growth in demand in Latin America, the decrease in load factor was lower compared to the Atlantic and Pacific markets. Load factors in the Pacific and Atlantic markets fell by 2% and 2.6%, respectively, as capacity grew despite a decline in traffic.

Domestic capacity increased at a lower rate of 3%, but utilization increased by 3% to 85.1% in October 2014, compared to 82.1% in 2013.

Delta is part of more than 70 ETFs. Some of the ETFs that hold more than 2% of their holdings in Delta Airlines stock are the iShares Transportation Average ETF (IYT), the PowerShares DWA Consumer Cyclical Momentum Portfolio (PEZ), the PowerShares Dynamic Market Portfolio (PWC), and the SPDR SP Transportation ETF (XTN).

For a complete overview of Delta Air Lines, read Market Realist’s series, Investing in Delta Air Lines: A must-know company overview.

Continue to Part 3

Browse this series on Market Realist:

• Part 1 – US airlines increase capacity in October to meet growing demand
• Part 3 – United’s October revenue, capacity growth best in Latin America
• Part 4 – American Airlines focuses on growth in the Pacific region

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (FOX13) – –
Delta airlines is making more cuts.

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The company says effective January 5, Delta will cut nonstop flights to Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Dallas.

In April, it will end its flight to Washington, DC.

Delta also confirmed that seasonal nonstop flights to Las Vegas will start up in March and to Salt Lake City in June.

At least 84 of the company’s Memphis employees will be affected by these changes, though the airline said it will offer those employees positions elsewhere in the company.

FOX13 is following this developing story.  Stay with MyFoxMemphis.com.

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Delta Airlines, the second-biggest airline in the world by passengers carried, has ordered 50 widebody long-range jets from Airbus, dealing Boeing a blow in one of the most hotly contested commercial aircraft competitions in recent years. The order, worth about $13 billion at list prices, is for 25 Airbus A350-900 and 25 A330-900, aviation site Leeham News reported, citing two unidentified sources.

Both the planes are twinjets designed to reduce fuel consumption compared to the previous generation of large passenger aircraft.

The order adds to the sales success of the A350, the latest product from European consortium Airbus and the direct competitor of Chicago-based Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. The recently launched A330-900 is part of the A330neo family, a modified version of the A330, which has been in service with airlines for 20 years.    

Boeing was offering the 787-9, the midsize model of its newest aircraft family. The 787 has been in service for three years, while the A350 is entering service later this year or early in 2015, after delivery to launch customer Qatar Airways in December. The A330neo, which has not flown yet, is slated to enter service in 2017.

Delta already has some 787s on order, in fact. The purchase of 18 Dreamliners had been made by Northwest Airlines, which merged with Delta in 2010, but those airplanes will not be delivered until 2020 after Northwest deferred the order due to economic difficulties.  

The  A350-900 will join the Delta fleet before that date, since there are dozens of delivery slots available after Dubai-based Emirates Airline canceled an order for 70 earlier this year. The availability of early delivery slots — a plus in the market for large commercial jets,  which are booked many years in advance — may have helped tip the balance in favor of Boeing, analyst Michel Merluzeau told Bloomberg News.

According to sources cited by Leeham, the longer-range A350 will be used on routes across the Pacific Ocean while the A330 will fly over the Atlantic. Delta already employs several current-model A330s on Atlantic routes.

The A350 seats up to 314 in a three-class configuration and can fly a full load of passengers and cargo up to 7,750 nautical miles, or 14,350 kilometers, making it one of the longest-range aircraft in the world, well suited for the long overwater stretches of Pacific routes.

The A330-900, the larger of the two models making up the A330neo (for “new engine option”) family, seats up to 310 in a three-class layout and can fly nonstop for up to 6,200 nautical miles.

Rolls-Royce is the sole maker of engines for both the A350 and A330neo.  

The A350 has a total of 750 orders; the A330neo, launched earlier this year, around 125, according to Airbus figures that do not include the Delta order. Boeing has sold 1,054 Dreamliners to date.  

Paris (AFP) – European aerospace giant Airbus is poised to sign a contract to deliver 50 long-haul carriers to US Delta Airlines in a deal worth $14 billion (11 billion euros) at catalogue prices, sources told AFP on Thursday.

Under the terms of the deal, Airbus will deliver 25 A350-900s, the company’s new long-haul carrier that this month received certification from the US Federal Aviation Authority and is due to enter service by the end of the year, a source close to the negotiations said on condition of anonymity.

The other 25 planes will be A330-neos, an updated version of its wide-body medium-haul jet with fuel saving engines which is slated to enter into service at the end of 2017.

“The order should be finalised in the coming days,” said one of the sources. “The announcement could be made at the beginning of next week.”

Delta had asked Airbus and Boeing in April to submit offers as the airline considers replacing its ageing fleet of long-haul 747-400 and 767-300 jets, saying it expected to place an order by the end of the year.

The A350-900 is designed to compete with Boeing 777 and 787 jets in the lucrative long-haul segment and has already received 750 orders.

Equipped with Trent XWB engines from Rolls-Royce, the plane can transport 315 passengers up to 14,500 kilometres (9,000 miles).

Delta already has a sizable fleet of Airbus aircraft, with 126 single-aisle medium-haul A320s and 32 A330s. It has recently made orders for another 55 Airbus planes.

– Rush for fuel savings –

Aerospace analyst Christophe Menard said that Airbus likely benefitted from the fact that it could deliver A350s rather quickly after Emirates cancelled in June an order for 70 of the aircraft.

“Boeing, on the contrary, doesn’t have quick slots available for its 787,” he said.

Westhouse Securities said in a note to investors that the order indicates that the delivery date is becoming a crucial factor for airlines.

The likely order “demonstrates that scarcity of delivery positions for some aircraft is becoming a deal-losing issue – recall that Airbus and Boeing combined have 8.6 years of backlog…”, said Westhouse Securities.

Airlines are in a major push to modernise their fleets to reap the fuel savings that the latest generation of engines offer, especially as competition in the sector is fierce and fuel is one of biggest costs.

As Airbus and Rolls-Royce still have relatively low market share with the older, or so-called legacy US airlines, “this is an important win –- particularly as the US legacies have old fleets and thus big future replacement demand,” said Westhouse Securities.

Delta’s fleet is on average 17 years old.

Menard noted Delta was one of the airlines which had been encouraging Airbus to offer a version of the A330 with new engines.

“This order would therefore be logical,” he said.

The order, if confirmed, would be the second major deal this month for Airbus.

Earlier Airbus announced that it had signed a preliminary deal to supply the China Aircraft Leasing Company with 100 planes in a contract worth around $10.2 billion (8.1 billion euros) at catalogue prices.

The orders will help Airbus narrow Boeing’s lead in new orders for this year as the US manufacturer has not announced any major new contracts this month.

At the end of October Boeing had 1,046 net new aircraft orders for this year against 794 for Airbus.

Shares in Airbus Group initially rose on the news, but were later pulled down along with the wider French market as survey data showed business activity continues to contract.

In afternoon trading Airbus Group shares were down 0.73 percent to 46.65 euros while the CAC 40 index had given up 1.17 percent to 4,216.18 points.

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Delta Airlines has announced that four non-stop flights from Boise to Seattle will be offered beginning May, 2015.

“We are thrilled to see Delta Airlines grow and expand its service out of the Boise Airport”, said Boise Airport Director Rebecca Hupp. “The new service will give our customers even more travel options from Boise to Seattle”.

“We are so pleased that Delta is bringing the residents and businesses of Boise more connections to Seattle, a key city in this region of the country,” said Boise Mayor Dave Bieter. “It’s more evidence that the Boise Airport is constantly adding value to its operations and is essential to our city’s development as we strive to be the most livable city in the country.”

The flights will be operated through Delta’s connection carrier SkyWest Airlines that is currently constructing a $19.5 million maintenance hangar at the Boise Airport slated to open in fall of 2015.

Delta’s inaugural flight from Boise to Seattle will be on May 4, 2015. Tickets for the new service will be available for purchase beginning November 22, 2014.
 

A Kennesaw man is suing Delta airlines after he said a 12-hour flight on Delta Airlines caused a blood clot that almost killed him.

Channel 2’s Diana Davis spoke with the man about what he said led to his scary health emergency.

Jordan Pajares was on a non-stop flight from Peru to Atlanta a little over a year ago when he said a child passenger had a medical emergency. The plane landed in Ecuador and what was supposed to be just a 30-minute stop to get the child off the plane, turned into about three hours of sitting on the tarmac.

He said he was crammed in the middle of the seat unable to move and began to feel intense pain in his legs.

“Numbness first, then I realized that my feet were swelling,” Pajares said.

Pajares told the flight attendant about the unusual activity happening to his body, but the flight attendant would not let him get up and move except for one trip to the bathroom.

When Pajares finally landed in Atlanta, he says his condition got worse.

“My veins in both legs were popped out like varicose veins and I was like, ‘This is not normal, this is weird,’” he said.

He developed a cough a day or two later and began coughing up blood. He says hospital doctors said a blood clot in his leg probably formed during the long flight. The clot lodged in Pajares’ lungs, nearly killing him. The condition is called “deep vein thrombosis.” It can lead to clots moving to the brain, heart and lungs.

Pajares’ lawyer claims cases like his client’s are becoming more common as airline seats become more crammed.

“When someone is complaining about leg pain, the proper response is to get blood circulating and moving and the best way to do that is to have them walk, extend their legs, rough flex exercise,” Johnson said.

Davis called Delta for a response to the lawsuit. A spokesperson emailed her that they were looking into it, but were unable to comment on litigation.

Passengers and crew of a Delta Airlines flight from Osaka, Japan, arrived on Guam several hours later than scheduled on Monday after it made an emergency landing on Iwo Jima, officials confirmed yesterday.

Delta Flight 294 made an emergency landing on Iwo Jima Sunday afternoon, and another plane was sent to pick up its passengers to continue the flight to Guam several hours later, said Tetsuo Kobayashi, with the Public Safety Department Aviation Safety Office o Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau.

Kobayashi said the flight was diverted to Iwo Jima and landed there at 1:58 p.m. Sunday Guam time. The replacement aircraft arrived on Iwo Jima around 8 p.m. and took off at 10:20 p.m. for Guam. That flight normally is scheduled to arrive at 2:45 p.m., according to the airline’s flight schedule on delta.com.

Guam’s airport agency received notice that a Delta flight was arriving several hours later than scheduled, said Rolenda Lujan Faasuamalie, the airport’s marketing manager.

Delta Airlines didn’t have a response to a request for comment as of press time yesterday.

Japan media reported that the flight had 171 passengers and crew aboard a Boeing 757-200.

The flight made an emergency landing on Iwo Jim after it experienced an engine problem, The Aviation Herald reported.

The aviation safety office stated there were no reports of injury or distressed passengers or crew.

The Delta plane that experienced the problem still was on Iwo Jima, the aviation office stated.

Japan’s Ministry of Transport reported the aircraft was about 270 miles south-southeast of Iwo Jima when the crew reported a problem with the left engine and decided to divert the flight, the Aviation Herald reported.

Iwo Jima, or sulfur island, was the site of a fierce battle between U.S. and Japanese forces during World War II.

Delta Airlines said proper procedures were followed when a Tampa man’s dog went missing before a cross-country flight from Los Angeles.

But Frank Romano is skeptical of the airline’s explanation of how the 6-year-old pit terrier, Ty, disappeared from a travel carrier two weeks ago and hasn’t been seen since.

Romano was in his seat preparing for departure to Tampa on Oct. 31 when he was pulled aside by a Delta agent and told Ty had chewed through the cage and was gone.

“Then she changed her story to they couldn’t find my dog and the dog’s been lost for over an hour,” he told KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.

Romano told NBC’s “Today” that Delta sent him photos of Ty’s broken carrier. However, Romano said he believes the caged door was broken from the outside.

“The metal door was off the hinges and everything,” Romano told “Today.” “It doesn’t look like a dog bit through that.”

In a statement, Delta said, “Early indications show that procedures were followed and the dog may have compromised the kennel on its own. Delta regrets this occurred while this pet was in our care.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that about a half-dozen pets have chewed through kennels and died on flights for various carriers this year, KCBS-TV reported. It was the second time this year a dog reportedly chewed through a crate at the Los Angeles airport, according to “Today.”

Romano’s family moved from California to the Tampa area last month to find better work. He grew close to Ty more than a year ago while volunteering at a North Hollywood pet store as a dog walker, then adopted him.

“It’s been very depressing, very upsetting,” Romano told KCBS-TV. “I’ve been crying. I’ve been angry.”

The Los Angeles airport said a search for Ty was recently called off after no sightings of the dog were reported. Romano told “Today” that Delta gave him a $200 credit because of the incident.

The dog is microchipped so Romano remains hopeful Ty will still be found.

“I just want my dog back safe and sound,’’ Romano told “Today.” “He’s my best friend. I just want to see him again.”