Regional carrier will operate Delta's New York-D.C. shuttle

By Michael Fabey

Dec 22, 2008

Delta for the first time is handing over part of its hourly New York-Washington shuttle service to a regional airline in January and will eventually replace its own MD-88 flights with 76-seat regional jet service to be operated by Shuttle America.

While Delta has occasionally used its own regional jets on the shuttle routes, carrier officials said this marks the first time the airline will contract with a regional airline partner in the East Coast shuttle market.

Delta currently uses MD-88s for all but two of its Delta Shuttle flights, with the other two using Embraer E-175s.

MD-88s offer 142 seats in a two-class configuration. The Embraer aircraft offers 76 seats with 12 in first class, two fewer than the MD-88.

But Delta officials said the 175s are not traditional regional jets: It's easier to stand up straight in the cabin, and the seats are about an inch wider.

The Delta shuttle service will split evenly between the two aircraft starting Jan. 5, with plans to switch to an entire Shuttle America fleet of E-175s by March 28.

Shuttle America is one of the three regional airline subsidiaries of Republic Airways Holdings; the other two are Chautauqua Airlines and Republic Airlines.

Shuttle America applied this month to the Transportation Department to remove a restriction that allows the carrier to operate scheduled passenger service with large aircraft only as a contractor in a fee-for-service agreements with larger U.S. carriers.

Without the restriction, Shuttle America would be free to offer scheduled service in domestic markets under its own brand name, and the carrier told the DOT said there is no sound regulatory reason for the restriction.

The airline said it has substantial financial resources and an experienced management team and should have the flexibility to respond to new market opportunities.

Also, Shuttle America noted that the DOT recently removed a similar restriction on its affiliate, Republic Airlines.

Delta is also introducing paid WiFi connections in the shuttle market this month with the Aircell in-flight Internet service GoGo.

The airline said passengers would be able to surf the Internet for about 40 minutes during the flight.

The service is priced at $9.95 for flights of three hours or less and $12.95 for longer flights.

Delta seeks 3 Tokyo routes as it continues Asia push

Although Delta has yet to merge its operations with Northwest, it is leveraging the two route systems to gain an even greater presence in Asian markets, one of Northwest's traditional strongholds.

The carrier applied to the Transportation Department to operate daily nonstops on three new routes to Tokyo from Portland, Ore.; Guam; and Honolulu. The routes would start about June 1, although some of the services could be transitioned as early as March.

"This will better enable the two carriers to align capacity with demand," Delta said in the DOT filing.

Delta will operate 221-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, replacing the 243-seat Airbus A-330-200 aircraft currently operated by Northwest.

"Northwest may remain a marketing carrier on some or all of the routes" under a codeshare, Delta said.

The move continues Delta's aggressive push into international markets, with particular focus on Asia. The carrier has been planning to increase its international capacity by up to 15% by year's end.

"We almost doubled our size in transpacific," Glen Hauenstein, executive vice president of network and revenue management, told analysts in the fall. "We have seen a very durable growth in Asia."

Delta had tried to make Portland an Asian hub in the 1980s and '90s but later moved those transpacific services to other gateways.

Now the airline is hoping the popular Northwest brand in Asian markets will provide the proper entree.

Delta also plans new flights to Tokyo from Atlanta, Salt Lake City and New York. -- M.F.