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Delta to try flying for a Song
By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer
Delta Air Lines will try to defend its Florida turf from low-fare competitors with more than just cheap seats. The airline's new low-fare carrier, named Song, will offer budget-conscious fliers individual video entertainment, brand-name food for sale and a little more leg room than other bargain carriers, Delta said Wednesday. Song will begin flying April 15 between West Palm Beach and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Flights from Tampa International Airport will start in mid-May to Kennedy and on May 31 to Boston, replacing service by Delta's original low-fare airline, Delta Express. Prices for those routes haven't been announced, said spokeswoman Stacy Geagan. Overall, Song's one-way fares will range from $79 for some advance purchase seats to $299 for walk-up tickets. The nation's No. 3 carrier and the largest at Tampa International, Delta is struggling to stop low-fare airlines -- Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways -- from nibbling away at its market-leading position in Florida. Song will have 144 daily flights between the Northeast and Florida by October. In the Northeast, Song will fly from the New York area, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Hartford, Conn. Its Florida cities will be Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Fort Myers. The airline will look more like JetBlue, the trendy startup that promotes its personal televisions and leather seats, than the bare-bones Southwest and AirTran. By October, all of Song's planes will be equipped with video screens carrying 24 channels of satellite television, MP3 audio programming, Internet connections and video games that let passengers play each other. Customers also will be able to buy pay-per-view movies and food, likely brand-name sandwiches and snacks, Geagan said. "Its our goal to make flying fun, exciting, interesting or merely relaxing," John Selvaggio, president of the new subsidiary, said in a prepared statement. Delta is reconfiguring 36 Boeing 757s from two classes of service to all-coach with 199 seats. That will provide 33 inches of leg room -- more than any other low-fare airline, Delta said. Song also is promoting better service between Florida and New York, where it will fly nonstop to Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark International Airports. JetBlue flies Florida nonstops only to Kennedy, and Southwest's go only to Islip on Long Island. Air Tran flies from Florida to Newark and LaGuardia but only through its hub in Atlanta. Delta is spending $65-million to launch Song and expects the new carrier will be profitable by year's end. The key will be keeping a lid on Song's costs. The carrier will operate leaner than Delta by getting more use out of its aircraft and crews each day. Song will fly "point-to-point," connecting destination cities directly instead of through large hubs. But many analysts are skeptical about how Song can match the rock-bottom costs of Southwest and JetBlue while paying flight crews the same as those on regular Delta jets. "My question is if they can really, truly be a low-cost carrier with the inflated rates its pilots receive," said Ray Neidel, airline analyst for Blaylock & Partners, an institutional brokerage. -- Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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