USA Today’s Today in the Sky Blog is reporting that Australian news outlets are now writing about an imminent announcement that Delta will begin flying from Los Angeles to destinations in Australia.  Such destinations likely begin with Sydney and add Melbourne and/or Brisbane. 

If true, this will mean that Delta will be the first airline to fly regular scheduled routes to all 6 inhabited continents in the world since Pan American Airlines.  More important, it means competition for QANTAS, V Australia and United Airlines.  

Currently, QANTAS is by far the main leader in that market flying Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A-380 aircraft.  It has been said that about 1/5 of their net profit comes from such routes.  V Australia, an international arm of Australia’s Virgin Blue, was originally scheduled to begin flying Boeing 777-300ER’s in December but had to slip the start to February 2009 due to Boeing’s labor strike this past fall.  United Airlines flies the same routes regularly with 747-400 aircraft that by many accounts are worn and tired and certainly not offering the service options the other two do.

It seems that Delta, if it does fly the route, is planning to use 777-200LR aircraft that are very capable of flying the distances as well as carrying a full load of cargo while doing it.  Ironically, the 777 was originally designed with QANTAS in mind although they never ordered any of the aircraft.  Indeed, with optional fuel tanks and a light cargo load, it is said that the 777-200LR might be capable of flying from Atlanta to Sydney regularly although it is highly unlikely that this will happen.  A more likely choice might be a late build 787-800 which Delta will be receiving as a function of purchasing Northwest Airlines.

This kind of competition is not want any legacy carriers on this route want.  Delta is operating with relatively low labor costs, new aircraft that are the most efficient available for long haul routes and they have a new network (from their merger with Northwest Airlines) that will feed the aircraft to capacity loads.    If Delta does launch this service, look for United Airlines to withdraw from the market.  They are the airline that lacks both the service product and fresh aircraft to compete.  

Filed under: Airline News, Airline Service by ajax