Quote:
Originally Posted by L-1011-Heavy
Yikes! 
Then What Was The Point Of The Merge If They Don't Reap The Benefits?
Not Much More Than A Codeshare. |
I have yet to figure out what benefits DL-NW will have in terms of economics. Their route networks complement each other beautifully, with DL dominating US-Europe and expanding into Africa and the Middle East, and NW's strong presence across the Pacific. But that's about it. DL's narrow body domestic fleet is comprised of MD-88s and 737NGs, NW newest domestic fleet are its A319/A320s. DL's long haul fleet has over 100 767s and a handful of 777s. NW is operating its long haul with the largest fleet of A330s in the world, and about 16 747-400s.
Air Canada-Canadian worked because they reduced frequency on all the overlapping routes within Canada, reducing capacity to raise fares and profits, and helping to compete against Westjet and others. Because Air Canada is smaller, simplifying the fleet was easier. They dumped Canadian's older 737s in favor of A320 family jets, and retired the 747-400s of both airlines. A subfleet was created with the 767-300s, since AC's had 2 doors and 2 window exits per side, and CN's were the type with 4 doors per side, not sure if they use the same engines or not. Now the A340 and A330 fleets are being replaced by the 777s.
But it's a lot easier to replace and modernize when you have about 12 A340s and 9 A330s in AC's case rather than DL's 100 767s and NW's 30 A330s. That's a lot of metal to replace and you can't ground any of them to cut costs, otherwise you risk shrinking your route network. The combined DL-NW doesn't want to do that, since they claim having a nearly global network is their greatest strength.