Delta Airlines : DL : DAL :

	Trafic		Capacité		Taux de remplissage
	RPMs	%	ASMs	%	%	Modification
Delta	15,30	-6,5	18,18	-8,3	84,2	1,6
American	10,24	-2,6	12,33	-7,3	83,1	4,0
United	5,43	-3,8	10,06	-6,8	83,8	2,5
Continental	6,47	1,9	7,80	-2,4	83,0	3,5
Southwest	6,33	1,9	7,99	-9,4	79,2	8,8
Us Airways	4,67	-0,8	5,65	-1,6	82,6	0,7
JetBlue	2,02	7,2	2,50	7,1	80,8	0,1
Alaska	1,46	3,0	1,89	-1,6	77,0	3,4
AirTran	1,51	5,2	1,90	7,0	79,2	-1,3

A day after Delta Air Lines Inc. unveiled a lucrative financial package for JAL, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], a unit of AMR Corp., struck back as it is readying what sources say could be an even sweeter proposal totaling around 130 billion yen with TPG Inc., a major U.S. investment firm.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, an American Airlines executive urged cash-strapped JAL to remain in the current oneworld grouping, saying the alliance is providing $500 million in annual revenue to JAL and will add $100 million more if the two companies can obtain antitrust immunity following the conclusion of open skies talks between Japan and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

"There is very minimal risk in staying with oneworld as opposed to joining the SkyTeam, which delivers enormous risks," Theo Panagiotoulias, American Airlines vice president for [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and the Pacific, told reporters in Tokyo.

JAL, currently seeking a turnaround under state supervision, is faced with having to decide, possibly by year-end, between [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the top U.S. carrier, and American Airlines, the second-largest U.S. carrier, in receiving badly needed capital as it heads for its fourth annual loss in five years.

"This is not a war between two carriers over JAL," Panagiotoulias said. "This is the right choice for JAL's future." Panagiotoulias declined to disclose the numerical details of a financial package until JAL finalizes a deal with a government-backed corporate turnaround body for broad support measures, but sources familiar with the matter have said the airline is preparing to invest about 30 billion yen, while TPG is eyeing an offer of around 100 billion yen.

He said American Airlines is ready to make "a significant investment" in JAL together with TPG once it receives a request from both JAL and the Japanese government.

"We want to be here and ready to support our partner in any way we can when the time is right," he said.

The remarks came after Delta said Wednesday the company and its global alliance partners are ready to offer a financial package totaling $1.02 billion (about 92 billion yen) for JAL, including $500 million in nonvoting equity capital and $300 million in revenue guarantees.

Delta President Edward Bastian also said the Japanese carrier could expect an increase of $400 million in annual revenue through a boost in passenger numbers by joining SkyTeam.

But American Airlines' Panagiotoulias said a defection to SkyTeam would pose regulatory risks, with Delta and JAL accounting for over 60 percent of the U.S.-[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] market. Joining SkyTeam could also jeopardize Tokyo's position as an international hub in the Asia-Pacific region as the alliance also includes Korean Air, he added.

"Japan Airlines needs to focus on quality revenue not quantity revenue," he said. "Our overall value proposition is far superior to anything that Delta has put on the table." The global battle over JAL has intensified even as the government has refused to rule out the possibility of liquidating the airline, which has already received three bailouts in less than a decade.

Separately, JAL officials said the company will suspend employee promotions, regularly carried out in December, to save costs by curtailing salary increases.

When it comes to competition in the skies, there is no fiercer contest than who has the best seat.
With only two main aircraft manufacturers in the world, airlines have to find other ways to differentiate themselves and claiming the longest, widest or most luxurious seat is a key battleground.
Virgin Atlantic, the pioneer of several improvements in seat design over the past 25 years, yesterday won the latest round in its fight to protect the exclusivity of its Upper Class seat.
Virgin spent £50 million designing its Upper Class product, which was introduced in 2003 and has been copied by rivals. Upper Class is Virgin’s equivalent of business and first class on other carriers.
The unusual Herringbone design was sold to other airlines by Contour, the Welsh seat manufacturer that built Virgin’s Upper Class product.
Virgin claimed that it owned the patent on the seat design and took Contour to court to stop it making any more copies. Virgin’s argument was initially rejected, but the Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the patent application. An injunction is likely to be filed against Contour to prevent it making any more of the seats.
Virgin is taking legal action against Delta, Air Canada and Jet Airways, which all bought the Herringbone seats from Contour. Cathay Pacific is facing legal action after buying similar seats from another manufacturer.
If Virgin’s legal action is successful, these airlines could be forced to strip their planes of the seats, which would be incredibly expensive as it can take months to refit a single plane.
It is thought that Virgin will press for an out of court settlement and lawyers said that Sir Richard Branson’s airline could be paid tens of millions of dollars in compensation.
Paul Charles, a spokesman for Virgin, said: “It has always been, and will remain, a key strategic objective of Virgin Atlantic to protect its intellectual property rights from misuse.”
The Herringbone design allows Virgin to fit a large number of seats into its Upper Class cabin because little space is wasted. The reclined seat folds down to create a fully flat bed.
Competition for premium passengers has intensified since the start of the recession as many companies have cut their travel budgets while holidaymakers are trading down.

Delta Air Lines intends to raise $688.7 million through the sale of pass-through certificates in two classes with annual interest rates of 7.75% and 9.75% respectively. The notes are backed by 27 Boeing aircraft, with proceeds going toward refinancing 22 aircraft DL currently operates and payments on an additional five aircraft delivered this year, it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission

The cost of taking a stake in embattled Japan Airlines Corp (JAL) ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) might weaken the credit strength of AMR Corp, but the parent company of American Airlines would have more to lose if it allowed JAL to slip into an alliance with other carriers. At stake is a share of JAL's lucrative Asian routes. Delta Air Lines and its SkyTeam partners have offered more than $1 billion to persuade JAL to defect from the rival Oneworld alliance.
While both AMR and Delta have recently shored up their liquidity, neither has a "war chest of excess liquidity that can be used to fund a bidding war for JAL," said Moody's analyst Jonathan Root. But "with more to lose, we believe American has the incentive to prevail in this bidding contest for JAL's alliance partnership," he said.
The risks for Delta are not insignificant either, as a bidding war for the struggling JAL would ultimately be "credit-negative" for the winner, Moody's Investors Service said earlier this week. American Airlines, a leading member of Oneworld, said it and private-equity partner Texas Pacific Group were willing to inject an undisclosed amount of money into JAL, which is undergoing a restructuring after several quarters of losses. Credit markets are skeptical of the situation and some investors already see the potential downside. Since AMR's announcement last week, the company's 2.375 percent notes due in 2014 have eased 5 cents on the dollar to around 83.75 cents as of Tuesday's close, according to Market Access.
DEEPER POCKETS Delta's bid for Japan's flag carrier puts AMR between a rock and a hard place in that if it fails to seal the alliance it cedes JAL's Asian air routes and allows Delta to build on an already strong position in a budding region for air travel. "Anything is too much for AMR to pay right now, but they can't afford, strategically, to lose out to Delta," said Roger King, airlines analyst for research firm CreditSights. "I think Delta is seeing an opportunity where it can muscle the industry with its balance sheet," he said. "They have deeper pockets and I don't see it being a credit problem for them." Many agree that for Delta, losing out to AMR on the deal would be a non-event for the company while a successful bid would give it a huge strategic asset. Delta is in talks to add more major airlines from China, Asia's most lucrative airline market, to its SkyTeam alliance, said GimmeCredit analyst Vicki Bryan. For AMR, retaining Japan Air "will cement for a longer period greater exposure to Pacific routes," which the company needs in the face of Delta's existing advantage in the region, she said. UNCERTAIN BET Last week, JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu said he wants to choose a partner by the end of this year but thought it was more natural to stay in the Oneworld alliance with AMR for the moment. While few doubt that JAL will get the funding it needs to survive, the main question is where it will come from. For JAL, the big question is "'do we want to be another big Asian carrier for SkyTeam, or do we want to be the premier Asian carrier for Oneworld," GimmeCredit's Bryan said.

Audio transcripts released by the US FAA have detailed air traffic controllers' bid to contact Northwest flight NW188 after the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] failed to respond to calls and far overshot Minneapolis, its destination, last month.
The transcripts from 21 October show that NW188 from San Diego passed through Denver en route centre's radar sector 30 and sector 28 without problem, and acknowledged a change of frequency to 132.17MHz at 17:56MST.
But three subsequent frequency-change instructions in the space of 20min - from Denver radar sectors 18, 08 and 09 - went unanswered. After a radio check, the sector 09 controller asked Minneapolis en route centre whether the aircraft had "come over", and was told it had not.
"I'll go find him," the Denver controller assured. But attempts to raise NW188 were unsuccessful and some 45min after its last contact, the Minneapolis R29 controller informed a colleague, at R19, that the flight was "actually nordo" - meaning 'no radio'.
R19 then asked another Northwest flight, NW196, to try to reach the pilots, and also contacted other controllers at R11, R15 and R16.
With the aircraft still unresponsive more than 30min later, and 50 miles beyond Minneapolis, the R29 controller suggested that the centre "try another pilot, see if he can get him" by using the last Denver frequency, 126.32MHz.
The R13 controller asked a third Northwest flight, NW1553, to call the wayward aircraft on this frequency and, if successful, tell the pilots to contact Minneapolis.
Shortly afterwards the R16 controller asked another flight, NW1510, to do the same. But almost simultaneously, NW188 re-established contact with R13, and R16 stated: "They got him. I just heard they got him."
NW188, having been silent for 1hr 17min, then told the R13 controller: "We got distracted and we've overflown Minneapolis, we are overhead Eau Claire and would like to make a 180 and do arrival from Eau Claire."
R13 told the crew that it needed to verify that the cockpit was secure. "It is secure, we got distracted," responded NW188, the pilots adding that they "never heard a call".
Control of the flight passed to R16 who, after a fuel check, asked: "Do you have time to give a brief explanation on what happened?"
The pilot replied: "Just cockpit distractions, that's all I can say."
Despite the minimal explanation, the R16 controller tried to obtain more detail a few minutes later: "Northwest 188 is there any way you can elaborate on the distraction?"
"We're just dealing with some company issues here," the crew said. "And that's all, that's all I can tell you right now at this time."

Delta Air Lines will invest in upgrades of its current fleet rather than ordering new aircraft, ahead of the delivery of four remaining orders in the first half of next year. The revelation throws further doubt on the airline's inherited order for [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 787s.
Speaking during a presentation at the Morgan Stanley Transportation Conference in Washington DC, the US carrier's chief financial officer, Hank Halter, said that after the merger of Delta with Northwest Airlines last year, the carrier had a combined operating fleet of almost 1,400 aircraft, including mainline and regional aircraft.
The carrier holds combined orders for 52 aircraft, including 25 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-800s and two 777-200LRs, as well as seven [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]/A320s and 18 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-8s ordered by Northwest before the merger. Halter says Delta's focus for the time being is making investments in its current fleet in areas such as audio/video on demand, Wi-Fi connectivity and lie-flat seats on its widebodies.
"We believe we can do that at a much more economical cost than re-fleeting an entire section of our aircraft," says Halter, who adds that, after the four deliveries planned for next year, "we don't have anything else".
This strategy to keep the fleet constant for the foreseeable future re-emphasises the uncertainty about the inherited Northwest 787 order. The airline was among the launch customers for the twinjet, and had originally secured early delivery slots. In a regulatory filing last year, Delta did not include the 18 787s in its firm order schedule running to 2012.
In the past, Delta executives have said the combined company has Boeing 777s that offset requirements for the 787, and during the carrier's 2008 investor day, chief executive Richard Anderson said the carrier did not have the capital allocated to the 787 in its three-year plan.
Halter acknowledges Delta will eventually need to supplement its fleet, "but for right now, our fleet of 1,400 aircraft clearly meet the needs of our network

TOKYO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Japan Airlines Corp ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) is likely to choose Delta Air Lines ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) as its overseas partner, ending its ties with American Airlines ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) and the Oneworld alliance group, Japan's Asahi newspaper reported on Friday.
Japan Airlines strongly denied the report and said it planned to make a decision early next month on whether to stick with American Airlines or defect to Delta and the rival SkyTeam airline group.
"It is absolutely wrong to say that we are leaning either way on the alliance decision at this moment," said JAL spokesman Kojiro Waki.
JAL, Asia's largest airline by revenue, has decided that moving to the SkyTeam alliance would come with more benefits for its restructuring and future growth prospects, the Asahi newspaper said without citing a source for the information.
American Airlines, along with other members of the Oneworld alliance and private equity fund TPG, has offered to invest $1.1 billion in JAL.
Delta has said that it and other SkyTeam members are ready to offer JAL a total financial aid package of about $1 billion, including a $500 million equity investment. Delta has also said it may team with a fund to sweeten its proposal.
"We are still in ongoing discussions with JAL and we continue to maintain that American Airlines' offer is superior to that of any other rival," said Carlo Niederberger, a public relations official representing American Airlines in Japan.
Delta spokeswoman declined to comment.
JAL, weighed down by $15 billion in debt and struggling to cut a $3.7 billion pension shortfall, is seeking a government bailout from a state-backed turnaround fund. The fund is expected to decide whether to inject capital into JAL next month.

TOKYO, 18 décembre (Reuters) - Japan Airlines (JAL) <9205.T> devrait choisir Delta Air Lines comme partenaire, ce qui mettrait ainsi fin à son partenariat avec American Airlines et sa participation dans l'alliance commerciale Oneworld, rapporte vendredi le journal japonais Asahi. Si Delta a refusé de commenter l'information, la compagnie aérienne nippone a fermement démenti l'article d'Asahi et a déclaré qu'elle envisageait de prendre sa décision au début du mois prochain.
De son côté un représentant d'American Airlines au Japon a indiqué que la compagnie américaine était encore en discussions avec JAL et a réaffirmé qu'American Airlines jugeait son offre supérieure à celle de ses concurrents.
Selon Asahi, qui ne cite aucune source, JAL estimerait toutefois que le fait de rejoindre l'alliance commerciale SkyTeam, dont Delta fait parti, serait plus bénéfique à sa restructuration et à ses perspectives de croissance future.
American Airlines a proposé la semaine dernière d'investir, avec d'autres membres de l'alliance OneWorld et le fonds de capital-investissement TPG, 1,1 milliard de dollars dans JAL.
Delta et d'autres membres de Skyteam proposent à JAL une aide financière d'un montant total d'un milliard de dollars, dont 500 millions de dollars d'apport de capital.

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved a single operating certificate for Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, allowing them to fully integrate schedules, routes, airfare and reservation systems, MarketWatch [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Thursday.
Delta bought Northwest in October 2008, for $2.6 billion, making the Atlanta-based carrier the world's largest airline.

Memo from Delta COO Steve Gorman

Stephen E. Gorman
Executive Vice President and
Chief Operating Officer
Delta Air Lines, Inc.
P.O. Box 20706
Atlanta, GA 30320


To: Delta Colleagues Worldwide


Date: December 31, 2009

Re: Delta, Northwest Receive FAA Approval to Fly Under Single Operating Certificate


Delta and Northwest today received final authorization from the Federal [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Administration (FAA) to fly under a single operating certificate (SOC). Together, we have achieved this significant milestone as scheduled – just 14 months after the closing of the merger. This accomplishment is a direct result of your hard work and dedication. There is still work ahead of us to fully merge every aspect of our airline, but as of today Delta is one airline operating on one FAA certificate.

The plan to obtain the SOC consisted of integrating roughly 385 manuals and 100 operating specifications, programs and processes at both airlines. Teams within each of our operational divisions closely evaluated each pre-merger Delta and Northwest program, process and operating specification to determine the best choice for the new Delta. In all, the teams
completed more than 10,000 individual tasks to thoughtfully and methodically reach this milestone.

Having a single operating certificate affects our combined airline in several ways. For employees in Airport Customer Service, In-flight Service, Flight Operations and Technical Operations, this means we are all working with the same manuals, organizational structure and oversight. Among other things, it also means that for the first time, pre-merger Northwest operations will be combined into Delta’s operations.

While today’s change will go unnoticed by our customers, achieving the single operating certificate paves the way for the final stages of our integration throughout next year. In the
first quarter of 2010, all tickets and fares will be consolidated into the Delta reservation system, removing the distinction between purchasing travel on a Delta or Northwest flight thus making every flight a Delta flight. At that time, nwa.com also will be discontinued and delta.com will remain the official Web site of Delta Air Lines.

To date, more than 45,000 customer-facing employees are wearing the Delta uniform. Only one of more than 240 airports remains to be consolidated with consistent Delta branding. More than 85 percent of pre-merger Northwest aircraft are painted in current Delta colors and nearly all aircraft are fitted with Delta standard interiors, including blue leather seats and blue carpet. The airline combined loyalty programs in October, making Delta SkyMiles the world’s largest airline loyalty program with more than 74 million members.

We accomplished the single operating certificate in record time and without negative impact to our daily operation. It is the people of Delta who continue to ensure our merger integration is thoroughly planned and well executed. Thanks for your dedicated focus and effort, and for continuing to provide excellent service to our customers.

Delta chief executive Richard Anderson has reiterated his bullish view that the carrier's large fleet of ageing [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] MD-80s retain a cost advantage over newer [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-800s that is largely driven by lower ownership costs.
Anderson has been bullish on the former [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] twinjet for some time, and previously the Delta boss said the airline was planning to add two MD-90s in the last quarter of 2009.
Flightglobal's ACAS database shows Delta operates 113 MD-80s and 17 MD-90s. Its 737-800 fleet comprises 71 aircraft.
"MD-80s still even at pretty high fuel prices start the month out at no debt," said Anderson at Delta's recent investor day. "A 737-800 costs about $350,000 to $375,000 a month. So on the first day of the month it is $375,000 behind just on ownership."
The carrier's chief also claims that the maintenance costs on the MD-80 are lower than the 737-800 and crew costs are not quite as high. "So the economics on the MD-80 are still good at $90 fuel prices because of basic economics, and we are regularly sort of looking at that side by side," he says.
Delta and Northwest Airlines merged in 2008 and unlike some of its US counterparts, the combined entity does not have plans to dedicate a huge capital outlay for aircraft in the near term. Executives believe that Delta's fleet of 1,400 aircraft, which includes the Northwest fleet and all the regional jets operating under Delta Connection contracts, meet the needs of its network.
Plans are under way to phase out the older McDonnell Douglas DC-9s still in operation at Northwest. Anderson says they will leave the fleet as they approach heavy maintenance checks. The ACAS database shows Northwest operates 69 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-30/40/50s

• Comme ils sont amortis, le cout de possession est faible
  
• Les couts de maintenance sont inférieurs à ceux des 737-800s
  
• Les couts des équipages sont inférieurs à ceux des 737-800s
  
• Les vieux DC9s vont quitte rla floote car les grosses révisions arrivent et elles coûtent chères.