Last week US Airways announced service from Charlotte to the largest domestic market that it does not currently fly nonstop: Salt Lake City (SLC). Salt Lake City is a Delta Air Lines hub. Indeed, Delta even flew SLC-CLT in 2007 and 2008 before rising fuel prices caused it to drop the route.
It comes as little shock then that Delta has now also added a Charlotte-Salt Lake City flights. Like the US Airways’ flight, it begins in early March and uses an Airbus A320. The timing though on the Delta flight is very different: instead of an evening departure and red-eye return, Delta’s flight leaves Charlotte at 7:45am and gets into Salt Lake City at 10:21am. The return flight leaves SLC at 5:00pm and gets into CLT at 10:51pm. The Delta flights are probably better timed for a majority of travelers but that carries with it a higher opportunity cost, as it ties up a valuable aircraft for most of the day.
What Delta is doing here is sending US Airways a not very subtle message: “Go Away. Do not fly from Charlotte to Salt Lake City.” Delta regards the Salt Lake City market as its turf and does not want other airlines coming in. The status quo of neither airline flying CLT-SLC nonstop is perfectly acceptable to Delta — it’s got a big hub in Atlanta after all to connect people flying to Salt Lake City from Charlotte and the rest of the Southeast. If Delta’s flight makes money, great, but that would be a bonus. The idea is simply to carry enough passengers, especially business passengers, so that US Airways finds the market unattractive and gives up.
