Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) Strengthens In Seattle

In an attempt to strengthen its network, Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) has announced new daily non-stop flights from Fairbanks and Vancouver International Airport to the western coastal city of Seattle.

Delta announced that its affiliate carrier SkyWest Inc. (SKYW) will operate a 76 seater CRJ- 900 to operate the Vancouver service. Meanwhile, Delta will use The Boeing Co.’s (BA) narrow bodied 737-800 aircraft to run one daily summer season service between Fairbanks and Seattle. Both Vancouver and Fairbanks bound aircraft will include Economy and first class seats along with domestic Wi-Fi service.

Delta will launch six new non-stop flights between San Francisco and Seattle on Mar 29, 2014, and will add two non-stop daily flights between Seattle and Las Vegas and Los Angeles, which will later be increased to five and seven daily flights.

This premier passenger carrier has strengthened its position in Seattle adding several international routes and is building the coastal city as an access point to Asia. The carrier connected some of the busiest destinations in the world like Amsterdam, Tokyo, Beijing and Paris from Seattle and is waiting to get the green signal to launch services in London and Seoul.

Expansion its service from Vancouver and Fairbanks means that the flyers from these countries will get an opportunity to avail connecting flights to different parts of the world, particularly in Asia. Further, we believe concentrating on the international market will allow the carrier to hedge itself from domestic sluggishness.

However, Delta’s operating performance for the month of November has been bit weak owing to a soft international and domestic business. However, the company’s international and domestic capacity showed modest improvement.

Delta currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). A better-ranked stock within the aviation sector is Spirit Airlines Inc. (SAVE) which carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).