Up In the Air: A Comparison Between Frontier and Delta Airlines

Delta Airlines in a major American airline company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company was founded on May 30, 1924. They operate as an extensive domestic and international network. Delta currently operates a fleet of more than 700 aircraft and they employ approximately 80,000 people. In 2011 they were the world’s largest airline in terms of fleet size. Delta Airlines is a very successful company. Part of what makes them so successful is expansion, making good decisions in route selection and hubs location, being service oriented, having a strong operation management, being reactive in terms of prices, and offering low fares.

Delta airlines have multilateral and formed alliances with other airlines. This is beneficial since the airline is able to gain access to international airlines. By forming alliance, the airlines share

Two of the largest competing airlines in America may seem to have a lot in common to a consumer’s eye: big commercial planes, friendly staff, one free carry-on bag, complimentary snacks. Maybe the biggest comparison of them all is how much of the airline market these two companies take up. But for every similarity, there must be a difference. Beyond contrasting ticket prices, there are many fronts on which to compare Southwest Airlines and American Airlines. To begin when the companies began, American Airlines was established approximately 40 years sooner than Southwest Airlines as a result of a merger. In terms of people, Southwest Airlines currently has just about half the number of employees that American does. However, to truly compare the two companies, the organization itself must be researched and analyzed. Southwest Airlines and American Airlines appear to be very different to this day in terms of organizational culture, team dynamics, and conflict and negotiation.

United Airlines and Continental Airlines, two major airlines companies, agreed to a merger that would create the world’s largest airline. Such important deal has a lot of problems to be dealt with, from technical, for example how to put the companies databases together, to more fundamental, like how the company should be ruled.

Hey Josh, great post this week. I have never flown on this particular airline myself, but it seems like I should try it. Any company who has a golden rule like the one stated in our reading must be a nice one. I have been on a few different airlines and was let down on several occasions. I think sometimes the flight attendants are over worked and get their schedule changed a lot. This is still not a reason to get nasty with the customers who have paid good money to fly with the airline they are working for. I feel all companies should pursue the golden rule. Everyone should be treated the same regardless of where they are at. Southwest Airlines have got a good thing going and good reputation with their customers. I think Delta could take a

Southwest spearheaded “Shuttle By United” by emphasizing the particularly city-pairs where they competed directly. Additionally, Southwest heavily promoted their 21-day advance fares and other discounts. Southwest’s average fare for the intra-California market decreased from $45.00 in the third quarter of 1994 to $44.00 in the fourth quarter of 1994 and into early January 1995. The Oakland-Seattle route was $51.00, down from $60.00 in the third quarter of 1994. Southwest vice president of marketing and sales estimated the average passenger fare for “Shuttle By United” was roughly 5-10 percent higher in the nine markets it competed directly with Southwest and about $20.00 higher than the average Southwest fare in the markets it did not compete directly.

The data table about the cost/fuel cost shows one peak, which reached the highest price during two decades. The pilot salaries and wages increased 17% in 2016 compared to 1998. There were six declines during 1999 to 2016 on fuel/oil cost. The maximum price that Frontier Airlines had spent on fuel/oil was $567,774 in 2008 which is the same year that the company got a bankruptcy. According to the New York Times, in 2008, Frontier Airlines got a bankruptcy, but they continued regular operations (2008). In 2008, when Frontier Airlines had a bankruptcy, the cost of pilot salaries/wages, aircraft maintenance, and aircraft ownership had a downward trend. The cost of fuel/oil had an upward trend and had the highest

In December of 2015, a group of friends and I gathered our backpacks and decided to spend 24 hours in Denver. Thanks to Frontier Airlines, we were able to secure $30 round trip flights out of Dallas and embarked on an adventure of a lifetime. You can read about it here.

This report provides an examinaion of the current structure, performance, stragergy and management of Delta Airlines, along with an industry analysis of the airline industry. The report uses current and past financial and statistical data for the company along with other up to date material to determine Delta's current market position and future potential.

Southwest has always aimed for 20 minute turnarounds at the gate – another perennial feature of its touted

alone has a great likelihood of negatively impacting airport capacity at several of Frontier Airlines’ major

Delta merged with Northeast Airlines, began flying routes from Atlanta to London, and managed steady operation and growth post deregulation despite many other airlines filing for bankruptcy.

Frontier Airlines was by far one of the best airlines to travel for, but recently this company has been one of the worst airlines in the industry to travel and work for. The product that they have provided as a low-cost airline has set a bad reputation for its customer service and has been trying to rebuild its product to become once again the industry that they were. Since the company has filed for bankruptcy back in 2008, it has been trying to rebuild, make changes to its planes, and reconfiguring management. Frontier has become 5th airline in the industry to be profitable, but is set to be one of the top airline with most complaints which is not a good thing for its company.

Most successful low-cost carriers try to offer a modicum of additional benefits, such as better on-time performance or more legroom. AirTran Airways has been very successful with its low-fare Business Class, while Frontier and JetBlue offer live in-flight television. US Airways offers a first class product, and a very extensive route network including international destinations.

As with all airlines, Delta’s recent performance has been significantly impacted by industry shifts and external events. Terrorist attacks and escalating costs have significantly impacted Delta’s profitability in recent history (Rivkin 4). The company has also been losing valuable market share to the low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines throughout the southeast and specifically in the lucrative Florida market (Rivkin 8). JetBlue also began encroaching on key Delta routes, and this seems only likely to increase (Rivkin 9). Despite this, Delta has still performed better than any other legacy carrier (Rivkin 8). Still, recent history has brought several changes to this legacy carrier, and the company has turned its attention towards new competitive strategies.