{"id":459,"date":"2010-10-26T14:29:06","date_gmt":"2010-10-26T21:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveltattler.com\/?p=459"},"modified":"2010-10-26T14:29:06","modified_gmt":"2010-10-26T21:29:06","slug":"new-delta-dawn-as-northwest-merger-soars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/lifestyle\/459\/new-delta-dawn-as-northwest-merger-soars","title":{"rendered":"NEW DELTA DAWN AS NORTHWEST MERGER SOARS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Delta Airlines is taking wing \u2013 a positive uptick for the airline upon which Michigan is almost entirely dependent for business and leisure travel beyond our region.
\nAfter acquiring Northwest Airlines, the company rebranded all of NWA\u2019s iconic red-tailed jets with logo of Delta to create the world\u2019s largest airline, flying 161 million travelers each year to 351 destinations in 64 countries on six continents. Michigan passengers fly Delta from Lansing, Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and other locations to Detroit, where they can then enjoy 158 non-stop flights, including 28 international destinations. Delta\u2019s come a long way since its\u2019 crop dusting start in 1924.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re very happy with the result of the merger and very pleased at how the airline is doing,\u201d said Andrea Fischer Newman, Delta\u2019s Ann Arbor-based Vice-President of Governmental Affairs, who also serves on the University of Michigan Board of Regents. She’s running for re-election Nov. 4.
\nThe company has seen its\u2019 strategy and effort \u2013 and the financial climate, begin to turn tail. After years of reports of large losses, Delta, which offers 13,000 flights daily, filled a record 86-percent of its available seats in the third quarter and posted a net income of $363 million dollars compared with a loss of $161 million for the same period last year. These figures exceeded Wall Street\u2019s expectations and Delta now expects its\u2019 fourth quarter to be in the black for the first time since October through December of 2000.
\n\u201cFinally! It would be great if it happened consistently. That doesn\u2019t happen all the time,\u201d Newman said. \u201cBusiness is picking back up. Companies are starting to travel again.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Delta is expanding service and routes, but sensibly, and only to meet customer demands. The slowly improving overall economy is bolstering a rebound in consumer and corporate appetite for air travel. Activity and lower, or at least stabilized, oil prices are clearing the airline for takeoff from Michigan to, for instance, Brazil. Last week, Delta launched the first non-stop flight from Detroit to Sao Paulo. \u201cIt\u2019s the first direct flight from Michigan to a destination south of the equator,\u201d Newman pointed out.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 During the winter, Brazil\u2019s peak tourist season, the flight will operate five times per-week. Flights depart at 7:30 p.m. and arrive in Sao Paolo, South America\u2019s largest business market, at 8:00 a.m.<\/p>\n

Delta’s Andrea Fischer Newman is also a UofM Regents
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Newman said that Brazil\u2019s ambassador personally asked Delta CEO Richard Anderson for more Delta flights to the country which will host the 2014 Fifa World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympic Games.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Detroit\u2019s global gateway is growing. Delta recently added service to Seoul and Hong Kong; expanded flight to Shanghai, and is planning non-stops to Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
\n\u201cWe always said during the merger that Detroit was going to be our Asian gateway and a major international gateway,\u201d said Newman. \u201cI think you are seeing the outgrowth of what the merger could do. It provided more people for the feed we need to fly internationally. And that\u2019s good for business because most businesses are global.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Leisure travel from Michigan is also an international affair.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCancun, Las Vegas, Montego Bay, and Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, are the most-popular all-inclusive vacation sites from Michigan,\u201d says Allison Buckneberg, a spokesperson for Delta Vacations, an airline-branded travel company which packages, air, hotel, ground transportation and activities. \u201cWe have the lowest Delta airfares available. Sky Miles members get bonus miles, and we have flexible payment options, too.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For more information, visit www.DeltaVacations.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delta Airlines is taking wing \u2013 a positive uptick for the airline upon which Michigan is almost entirely dependent for… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2010\/10\/Andrea-Fischer-Newman.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions\/462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}