Delta plans new low-fare service By Marilyn Adams, USA TODAY Delta Air Lines, the USA's third-biggest carrier, on Wednesday will=20 announce outlines of a risky new low-fare service to combat aggressive=20 discounters JetBlue, Southwest and AirTran Airways. In a move sure to be=20 closely watched by the industry, Delta is expected to announce it's=20 expanding =97 perhaps coast to coast =97 and renaming its Delta Express=20 low-fare subsidiary, people familiar with the planning say. Delta Express=20 was launched in 1996 to compete with low-fare giant Southwest Airlines on=20 lucrative routes between the Northeast and Florida. But the new service=20 will include flights from the East Coast to Las Vegas and possibly other=20 destinations in the West, people with knowledge of Delta's plans say. Las=20 Vegas, a major leisure destination, lost some service with the recent=20 shutdown of National Airlines. JetBlue just started service to Las Vegas.=20 Low-fare airlines =97 with lower cost structures and simpler fleets =97 have= =20 become a presence in as much as 50% of Delta's domestic system, company=20 officials say. Delta CEO Leo Mullin has repeatedly said low-fare carriers are his biggest= =20 worry: Southwest is powerful in the Northeast and Florida. AirTran is based= =20 in Delta's hometown of Atlanta. Two-year-old start-up JetBlue has quickly=20 become a force in New York, the nation's biggest air market. Delta's plight= =20 is shared by American, United and the other traditional airlines that have= =20 relatively high labor costs and fly many types of aircraft to both domestic= =20 and international cities. But in an interview last spring, Delta Executive= =20 Vice President Vicki Escarra said the airline is "more exposed than anyone= =20 else" to discounters. Delta spokesmen would say only that today's announcement will describe a=20 broad strategy, without details. But people with knowledge of Delta's plans= =20 say they include: =B7 Rebranding the low-fare service without Delta's name to separate= it=20 from the main airline. =B7 Changing from Delta Express' Boeing 737s, which Southwest also=20 flies, to larger 757s so that labor and other costs can be spread among=20 more passengers per flight. The strategy is viewed as risky in part because Delta's pilots union has=20 not been asked for wage concessions to support the new venture. Labor costs= =20 at low-fare airlines are lower. Also, other airlines' low-fare subsidiaries= =20 have failed. After the terrorist attacks, US Airways shut down MetroJet,=20 its answer to Southwest, because it wasn't profitable. United closed its=20 Shuttle by United in California for similar reasons. After the terrorist=20 attacks, Delta cut Delta Express flights in half to trim costs, and they=20 have not been fully restored. Florida is the source of 25% of Delta's= revenue. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (chgdev) http://www.chagdev.com/ (Chaguaramas Development Authority) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************