Advertiser Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links below. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers.
In December, I wrote about American Airlines cutting 21 of the 46 destinations it serves from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) early next year. At the same time, Delta Air Lines announced its increased support of the capital of Texas with 11 new flights (including three new routes) in 2024. Now, the Atlanta-based carrier is looking to increase its presence and exert dominance over this focus city.
The Points Guy reports that Amy Martin, Delta’s Vice President of North America Network Planning, expressed that Delta is “quite pleased” with the performance at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). It plans to even add additional flights this year. These include more flights to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) and Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU) and launch flights to Nashville International Airport (BNA), which launches on April 22nd.
Delta still has room for growth in Austin and it only picked up one of the 21 routes that American cut. That city is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). It does not offer service to any of these destinations that were once part of American’s offerings at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS):
- Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ) (cut in February 2024)
- Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) (cut in January 2024)
- Cozumel International Airport (CZM) (cut in January 2024)
- Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (VPS) (cut in January 2024)
- Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) (cut in February 2024)
- El Paso International Airport (ELP) (cut in February 2024)
- Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) (cut in February 2024)
- Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) (cut in January 2024)
- Kansas City International Airport (MCI) (cut in February 2024)
- Liberia’s Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR) (cut in April 2024)
- Memphis International Airport (MEM) (cut in January 2024)
- Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport (MBJ) (cut in January 2024)
- Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS) (cut in March 2024)
- Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport (OKC) (cut in February 2024)
- Puerto Vallarta’s Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport (PVR) (cut in April 2024)
- Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) (cut in March 2024)
- Sacramento International Airport (SMF) (cut in February 2024)
- Tampa International Airport (TPA) (cut in February 2024)
- Tulsa International Airport (TUL) (cut in January 2024)
- Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) (cut in February 2024)
Competition in the airport forced American to pull back, but it still holds 19% of the market. Southwest is the juggernaut here with 44% market share and Delta clocks in third with 15%.
Anthony’s Take: Delta is still positioning Austin as a key access point to for connections to its entire route network. It saw a hole in its network within Texas and plugged it. Austin was a focus city for American and its continued expansion shows that while American is retreating that there is demand there.
(Image Credits: Delta Air Lines.)
User Generated Content Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
2 comments
Exert dominance lol step away from the can of Coke what a fanboy post. They’ve add a grand three new routes. Southwest is the king there by a country mile 2x the share of anyone else.
Delta’s great performance in AUS looks just like Skywest’s great performance in Salt Lake City. Nice photo.