Delta is doing so well in so many ways. Exciting new service to India is coming. So why does Delta continue to levy petty attacks against Gulf carriers? I just don’t get it.
It has been a great run for Delta. The best-run airline in the USA has reported consistent profits, boasts happy employees, an expanding route network, and satisfied customers. Yet Delta feels the needs to continually and hypocritically attack Gulf carriers. It is simply becoming exhausting…
Yesterday, Delta (finally) announced that it would resume service to India in December 2019. Its new flight from New York to Mumbai will operate on the following schedule:
- New York to Mumbai – dep 9:15 P.M. arr 10:50 P.M.+1
- Mumbai to New York – dep 12:50 A.M. arr 6:35 A.M.
Delta has not yet announced the frequency of this flight, which suggests it will not be daily. The new route will utilize a Boeing 777-200 with Delta One Suites like the ones pictured above.
Nestled in the press release about the new route was a statement from Delta CEO Ed Bastian:
Delta’s nonstop service between New York and Mumbai is the latest example of our international growth as we strive to connect the world better than any other airline. This route would not be possible without the administration’s ongoing efforts to enforce fair competition in international travel, ensuring that consumers enjoy a wide range of choices as they travel the globe.
Notice the second sentence, which I certainly take issue with. Delta seems to have this idea that if you shout something long enough, people will believe it. And while that is sadly a decent political strategy, the facts do not bear out Delta’s claim. I won’t rehash that here, but see my analysis on a recent dishonest op-ed from Bastian to understand why the constant attacks against Gulf carriers represent hypocrisy at its finest.
> Read More: Dense, Dimwitted Logic From A Deliberately Deceptive Delta CEO
But wait, there’s more! Delta’s Chief Legal Officer, Peter Carter, also weighed in on the new route:
Every long-haul route lost or foregone to subsidized Middle East carrier competition costs more than 1,500 American jobs, so we are pleased to bring this route back into service thanks to landmark agreements the Trump administration reached with Qatar and the U.A.E.
Seriously, this is in the press release. Small problem: it’s not true! Gulf carriers add U.S. jobs, since Gulf carriers buy Boeing jets and hire employees to run their U.S. operations. Not to mention the multiplier effect of any new route in the USA (think U.S. fuel, catering, airport fees, parking, hotels, etc).
CONCLUSION
Delta has proven that it not only can compete against Gulf carriers, but can compete well against Gulf carriers. Nevertheless, as Delta continues its odd “get off my lawn” rantings about its competition, its good news is overshadowed by what amounts to bullying. Instead of writing exclusively about the new Mumbai route, we are again drawn into a faux-controversy that Delta whipped up itself.
Perhaps Delta is just covering itself now so that it can cast blame yet again on others if the new Mumbai route fails.
Hear! Hear!
Perfectly said, spot on commentary & analysis.
Of course, the irony of Delta’s hypocrisy is that it’s also attempting to play the “Useful Idiot” (aka the man-child who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.) protectionist card against the big Middle East 3 airlines the same way Boeing attempted to do against when it was seeking to sabotage Delta’s order for its now in-service Airbus A220s (née Bombardier C-Series) via Boeing’s I’ll-advised and desperation efforts to kill-off the then undercapitalized and struggling Canadian-based Bombardier by any means necessary even if that included starting a needless trade-war with our largest trading partner, and key political/military ally in global affairs, Canada by seeking to impose a nearly 300% tariff/duty/import tax at Boeing’s behest to vanquish a competitor whose all new, nascent 21st century narrow-body aircraft (now more than ever) threatens to (even further) render Boeing’s now grounded, antique, long ago primitive/stale/obsolete designs and technologies dating back to the dawn of the Jet age and mid-1960s that it’s 737 MAX series relies heavily on.
Yep, we’re talking jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, breathtaking, stunning, shameless, remorseless, full-on, abject, hypocrisy.
Oh, the irony of it all!
PS: By the way, and just a heads-up, Delta: that desperation attempt by Boeing seeking to kill off the pride and joy of your future narrow-body fleet originally designed and built by Bombardier didn’t exactly end well for Boeing, did it?
You know, what with Boeing’s arch rival, Airbus, picking up an entirely new narrow-body product line that makes those flying 737 dinosaurs that much more obsolete by comparison AND all of the new technologies Bombardier included with your shiny new toy for – wait for it – $1.
And hate to say it because the events themselves are so horrible seeing as the price paid was 346 lives, but that thing about Karma as it applies to Boeing and its 737 MAX might also be worthwhile if one (widely as we all should) keeps that Karma dimension in mind consideration because, well, you know, Karma can be a ‘you know what’ (that starts with a “b” and rhymes with “witch”) that when you least expect it, comes back to haunt you.
Just sayin’ – what goes around comes around.
Just ask Boeing… 😉
Note: Please forgive the “predictive text” errors that went unseen and corrected in the above comments posted.
For example, “widely” should be “wisely”, and “I’ll-advised” should be “ill-advised.”
Those, or others, if missed and omitted from this correction notation, were typed correctly.
However, predictive text has a “mind” all its own, and yet still those typos often go unseen while reviewing and editing (as time permits with some efforts better reviewed and edited than others!) prior to posting, but then are seen in all their “glory” once a wider perspective displaying the entire body of text is available “post-posting”!
Cheers!
Your premise is incorrect. The gulf carriers are subsidized with billions of dollars. Delta can compete against any carrier on a level playing field. Subsidies are supposed to be banned in our open skies agreement but the gulf carriers are cheating.
Delta is competing just fine and enjoys more subsidies (some direct, some indirect) than the Gulf carriers do.
Matthew, perhaps you have not kept up – many foreign carriers are state-owned and are both heavily subsidized and unprofitable. They exist primarily as a source of national pride. Privately owned carriers cannot compete with government carriers on the basis of seat cost.
Of course they can. That’s what Delta continues to do.
What are those subsidies?
Airport Subsidies. Jet Fuel subsidies. Can I pay the gas tax for petrol that airlines pay for jeta pls.
Northwest got a nice $838,000,000 subsidy from MN for that now delta used aircraft maintaining and engine repairing base in Duluth.
No US open skies treaty is protectionism rather than a subsidy but a very effective piece of protection.
So you only have a beef with Delta regarding the gulf carriers but not American and United which have also complained to the government about the subsidies of the gulf carriers? Perhaps you should ask United why they pulled out of Dubai.Please tell ever reader just exactly the subsidies Delta receives.
Matthew, you’re just wrong. State the particulars of your evidence that Delta receives more subsidies than gulf carriers. Numbers. Facts.
I provided a link already.
I think you missed the point entirely…India is the 2nd most populous country on the planet. How is it possible that Delta doesn’t even serve it directly? In fact with a population of around 1.1 billion people the fact that U.S. carriers only operate 7-8 combined direct flights currently is astounding.
Consider also that the entire UAE is home to only 9.2M people. If you add Qatar with its tiny 2.2M population those areas combined are all only slightly more populous than the city of New York, yet they are home to three of the largest international airlines in the world. When those 3 airlines are operating such a staggering number of flights and carried passengers compared to the tiny number of passengers and flights the U.S. is able to profitably operate there is a problem. Which is more beneficial to an airline? An open skies agreement that opens up a population of 350,000,000 people to an airline or one that opens up a population of 11,000,000 people? Open skies was signed with UAE when none of these airlines even flew to America.
Air India serves 6 American cities non-stop and Delta serves ZERO in India.
The ONLY reason Delta is able to serve Dubai again after dropping it’s unprofitable service and to begin Indian flights again is because of the current administrations attention to foreign governments operating airlines at a loss by using subsidies to unfairly compete against U.S. Airlines.
Where’s your protest against China Eastern, Alitalia, Air India, Saudia, and other state-backed airlines? Is the issue that Gulf carriers just offer a nice product?
Delta announced service to BOM because JET Airways collapsed. It could not make the route work before due to diminished demand and higher fuel prices, not due to the Gulf carriers.
Delta had announce going back to India long before Jet Airways went down. You are missing some details in your story. Delta is complaining because Air Italy which Qatar just bought a large chunk of so it could get around the agreements with the US Government. Now Air Italy who was badly in debt is adding several US cities.
I didn’t mention the product, however if women were treated as substandard humans as they are in the Middle East I imagine they might break their backs to offer more service for fear of repercussion. They also restrict women by age and are forbidden to marry for 5 years. If you prefer America to discriminate on age, marital status and whether or not you are pregnant, then U.S. carriers could have 20 year old energetic flights attendants also.
For some reason you completely ignored my mention of fleet size vs. population in the middle eastern countries and chose a different argument for a reply. I’ll assume that means you don’t have an answer to the lopsided open skies agreement and subsidy argument. Please name the subsidies that you mentioned that Delta gets that are larger than the multi billions in subsidies that Emirates gets. I am interested in learning about those.
Delta has been working on Mumbai service for years, Jet Airways collapses only days ago, so that is not the reason for reinstating service. Offering a single flight to a country of 1.1 billion people is not a very hardy competition.
Those Boeing manufacturing jobs you tout come at American tax payer expense through loans guaranteed by the export import bank which has given Boeing an unfair advantage in international markets. All the while, charging a premium to American carriers.
Further, the labor employed by these gulf carriers is modern day slavery that marginalizes human rights, women, and perpetuates the exploitation of workers from the third world. They import labor, take their passports, house then in group homes twenty to a bathroom to clean and maintain their sparkly brand. They fire women for getting pregnant or gaining weight. American carriers have their faults, but if being snarky is what you’re worried about, look deeper.
So we should boycott Boeing?
@Howard Miller
It’s a complex issue that revolves around subsidization of airlines by middle eastern governments and the unfair advantage they have versus unsubsidized U.S. carriers. From a passenger perspective sure we all like middle eastern carriers like Emirates, Qatar and Ethidad especially for premium seat offerings. We all like the A220. However there is a legitimate beef U.S. airlines, manufacturers and elected officials like Trump have over this.
On the A220 issue:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleynunes/2017/10/04/why-boeings-gain-is-deltas-loss/#3c46d1f02bb7
Avid traveler Matthew,
I will be brief. Is it not fact that Delta competes with middle eastern airlines who are heavily government subsidized? Show me the facts and comparisons please, if you want to convince me, including tax breaks offered by all governments & airlines involved.
Thank you.
The TRUTH is the TRUTH! The mid-east government subsidizes its Airlines making them extravagant and elegant. Something we can not do here in America because people want cheap fares and the government doesn’t give us money to refurbish our airplanes! Perhaps you would understand if a government subsidized company started to move in on your turf and you did not have the equal capital to compete! Please, take pride in your American companies and stop giving your money to foreign carriers that are taking our jobs away! Educate yourself!
I see the propagandists have been dispatched to the comments section.
Please see this article:
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2018/12/22/ed-bastian-dishonest-op-ed/
And this:
https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/04/08/us-airlines-have-received-more-subsidies-than-middle-east-ones/
And these:
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/07/20/gulf-subsidies-smear-campaign/
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/09/07/delta-indianapolis-paris-flight/
Propagandists? More like realists. Ironic that this article has been seasoned with a touch of propaganda.
Mathew, a fair number of people in this comments section have made relevant, reasonable counter-arguments to your position, and you’ve dodged, deflected or ignored pretty much all of them. Which leads me to the conclusion that, like many (not all) libs, when faced with facts that inconveniently don’t fit your agenda, you cut & run.
Matthew, This isn’t newsworthy. Do better.
I think its quite newsworthy…
Matthew it weakens your arguments to reply with sarcasm instead of facts. Calling people propagandists as a retort means you probably don’t have a strong argument against their statements and name calling is all that you have left to debate with. Be professional.
Delta has some super weird martyr complex about the ME3, where they just make up lies and expect rational people to believe those lies. Then again, Delta hasn’t exactly been a pillar of honesty or integrity for a long time, so maybe part of this is just habit.
Thanks Matthew for setting the record straight. I would be a sure-shot customer for Delta as I am a hub cative and travel between the US-BOM once a month on business. I usually fly United because of the EWR – BOM nonstop and because I’m aiming for Million Miler. But whenever I’ve flown the ME3 or Turkish, I have been amazed at how much better the experience and customer service is. It’s not about flashy product. It’s about the little human interactions which make all the difference. BTW, I’m not sure why everyone forgets the subsidies that AA, Delta and United have received. I dare them to complain about Saudia or any of the Chinese airlines or Air India – which are also subsidized.
Funny, even before your line “Gulf carriers add U.S. jobs, since Gulf carriers buy Boeing jets …”, I thought to myself that it was surprising Delta is using a B777 since they typically buy Airbus.
I’m happy to add my 2 cents to this.
I have status with Delta. Only Silver, but still. I recently took a business trip to Bahrain. I exhaustively scoured Delta’s website to make it work on Delta, since that’s a lot of money, miles, and points to miss out on. But in simplest terms: a Delta route would have cost $8,500 and lasted 26h end to end. Emirates Business Class on the A380 was $4,500 and 13h.
I went Emirates and I regret nothing. And honestly? Next time I would search Emirates first.
Coming for Emirates on a Gulf route is a fool’s errand. And complaining about the state subsidies (which, hello, it could petition the U.S. for if everyone were really serious) just makes you look like a petulant child who’s lost a game.
And 100% on your call out of their hypocrisy and patently false claims.
Delta is by far the best North American carrier but if they want to compete with airlines from the Gulf and Asia, they are going to have to step up their game several orders of magnitude.
Delta charges what I would argue are some of the world’s most outrageous international fares from its ATL hub. Galling for them to criticize the Gulf carriers.
Trump derangement syndrome permeates this post and some of the angry comments. Move on folks; she lost because she sucked, not because of “Trump-Russia.”
So sad.
Well said!!! Howard Miller.