The recent $2.8 billion airline merger of Delta and Northwest could be a good thing for Hartford’s Bradley International Airport, airport officials said.
Beyond assuring that the day-to-day operations of two of Bradley’s biggest airlines won’t change, the officials said Delta’s purchase of Northwest bodes well for the return of the popular nonstop daily round trips to Amsterdam and Los Angeles and other long-haul destinations.
A few months ago, astronomical crude oil prices — $140 a barrel or higher — forced more than 38 airlines out of business and prompted Northwest to cancel its popular year-old trips to Amsterdam as of Oct. 1. Delta also shrunk its routes nationwide, dropping Bradley’s four-day-a-week nonstop LA flights after Sept. 30. Also, the bankrupt Frontier Airlines abandoned Bradley’s Denver flights after Sept. 4.
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Amsterdam Again?
Delta swallowed Northwest on Oct. 29, hours after the U.S. Justice Department officials said they wouldn’t block the plan. With the combination becoming the largest airline in the world, with oil prices now hovering around $70 a barrel, with the faint fluttering of recovery in the economy, and with the year’s worth of hefty Amsterdam bookings in Bradley’s resume, the resumption of that signature flight and the Los Angeles nonstop may well become reality, airport officials speculated.
“The very flights that Bradley lost based on skyrocketing fuel prices now may have a chance of being reinstated,” said Bradley Marketing and Route Development Director Kiran Jain. “Delta’s partnership with Northwest will only strengthen their presence in our market, and what it really brings to the forefront is that there will be a larger variety of aircraft that will be available to be deployed to various destinations.”
The merger is not the key development, said Bradley Airport Administrator Jeffrey Schultes. “It’s the lower fuel costs and the economy,” he said. “But the merger provides an opportunity that we’ll have different types of newer more fuel-efficient and bigger airplanes available.”
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No Quick Changes
Although nothing will change quickly, said L. Scott Frantz, chairman of Bradley’s board of directors, the industry will “have a stronger entity going forward, and the merger puts Delta and Northwest in a better position to look at routes that have been very successful in the past, and they recognized the huge potential as a result of the one-year service from Bradley to Amsterdam.”
Other routes to Europe are also possible, Frantz added. “That’s absolute speculation,” he said, “But I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of anything happening.
The airlines understand how strong the market is at Bradley, but it’s going to take a while for the merger to be consummated, and it will take a while for the economy to settle down, and no one is making decisions under these circumstances.”
Indeed, the completion of the merger will take from 12 to 24 months, said Delta Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson. Meanwhile, he said, “It’s business as usual.” That means the merger will not affect Bradley flights because there are no overlapping routes: Delta flies from Bradley to Atlanta, Cincinnati, Columbus, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, New York’s JFK Airport, Orlando, Tampa, and West Palm Beach. Northwest flies to and from Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Memphis.
Bradley passengers should continue to check-in and do business directly with the airline booking their flights just as they did before the merger.
Delta will also continue operation of the airlines’ separate Web sites, as well as the two airlines’ reservations systems and loyalty programs. Passengers should make reservations as before, check baggage with the airline they’re flying, and go to the correct terminal, as Delta and Northwest facilities are sometimes located in different areas of an airport.
Delta has also taken steps to maintain each airline’s work force. A joint contract unifies both airlines’ pilot groups under one working agreement. Also, the two airlines promised that no frontline employees will be involuntarily furloughed as a result of the merger and that no hubs will be closed.
