dcstudent

Morning all, today on the WN earnings call they mentioned that they will be making significant capacity reductions at ATL. See:

https://swamedia.com/releases/release-f9b0d09b13627fa65cf1f5e65d0c91db-southwest-airlines-reports-first-quarter-2024-results

They did not say what that means yet, but I think it'll mean even higher fares on Delta where they compete head to head. WN is a backup airline for me out of ATL, but I've noticed when I book a Delta flight that leaves about the same time as a WN flight to the same destination DL keeps the basic and main cabin fares relatively close to what WN is offering.

Also, wonder if they will return any gates? I know DL wants more, and I think I read somewhere that other airlines also want more (Spirit or Frontier maybe?) so wonder if this will lead to DL having more gates on C (or D or E if Frontier/Spirit can move).

Adelphos

Somewhat off topic - did Southwest just basically destroy Airtran's old presense / network out of Atlanta after they bought it? Did they retain planes? What happened with that merger? Huge waste or so it seems

MCO Flyer

They significantly shrunk it. A good chunk of AirTran’s old aircraft (717) ended up at DL. The AirTran-Southwest merger and Alaska-Virgin America merger were two of the worst mergers that essentially destroyed and gutted a competitor. AS has removed all former VX aircraft from its fleet.

dcstudent

Delta is probably very happy with the merger. AirTran had 220 flights per day at its peak, WN has a little over 100.

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-air...FSZBGEFF75WB4/

rylan

Only thing I see this doing is further emboldening DL to raise prices even more at their fortress hub.

OrangeRange

They were gone long before my time traveling, but Eastern truly appears to be the last time Delta had a meaningful competitor at ATL.

ATOBTTR

Look at the positive - fewer WN flights hopefully means more gates DL could obtain, thereby decreasing the probability of your gate being occupied when you arrive in ATL (having a ground crew to guide you in and a gate agent to connect the jetway still TBD )

spudley007

If I remember correctly, didn't the merger allow Southwest to fly internationally, as they were domestic only prior to the "merger"?

MCO Flyer

They first started International ops in Summer 2014 and the merger wasn’t officially completed until December 2014, so no but the merger did accelerate their International plans.

hotturnip

Maybe it'll encourage the other airlines to build their presence in ATL.

I wish they'd boot DL out of Terminal T and put most of the other airlines there.

micstatic

negative. Us Atlanta based frequent flyers appreciate getting t gate flights.

exwannabe

DL has 8 of the 15 T gates and AA/UA have the other 7.

What is the reason DL should have to give up the best gates when they already have less than their "fair share" based on overall flights?

uanj

DL will be not only be happy to see this but also take credit for it as well. And some of it is due to DL, but a big part is Boeing.

Air Tran merger is like AA buying TW, major accomplishment was removing a competitor and most of its capacity from the market.

xliioper

Not really the same thing. TWA would have likely met the same fate as Pan Am and Eastern if AA had not acquired them.

uanj

If DL had acquired TW the landscape would be different today, DL could have started on an interesting growth trajectory. Regardless, all this is speculation, we cannot undo the past.

Back to the point of the thread, I agree that certain markets will see fares increase.