Well a couple of days ago, the US Department of Transportation closed bidding for the 102 weekly frequencies available for flights from the US to all Brazilian cities, except for Sao Paulo. As is to be expected with the Brazil-US market, which is centered on Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, there weren't many applications. In fact, there are only 2 applications. American Airlines has asked for 11 weekly frequencies to link its hubs at New York-JFK and Miami with Rio de Janeiro daily and Brasilia four times a week. With American's strength to Latin America, these aren't exactly a surprise; and the Brasilia service should decimate Delta's offering from Atlanta. But the more interesting proposal comes from Delta Airlines, who is asking for 5 weekly Detroit-Sao Paulo frequencies. "Wait", you must be thinking, "I thought these were non-Sao Paulo frequencies." Apparently Delta Airlines doesn't understand that… They have made this application based on the contingency of 5 of these frequencies being shifted to Sao Paulo. But Delta has shown another option. In a footnote, Delta talked about the DOT giving them 5 frequencies from Atlanta to Rio de Janeiro, which would allow them to shift 5 unrestricted frequencies over to Detroit-Sao Paulo giving them a daily flight year round. How does it work out to daily?? Well, the application also serves a petition to allow Delta to switch two weekly frequencies from Los Angeles to Detroit giving 7 weekly, or once daily flights to Sao Paulo.
In Summary:
2 Weekly frequencies transfered from LAX-GRU, to DTW-GRU
5 Weekly frequencies either granted by DOT for DTW-GRU, or 5 transfered from ATL-GIG, and 5 granted for ATL-GIG
Totals:
Still Daily ATL-GIG
New Daily DTW-GRU
No more LAX-GRU
So what about the route itself?
Here are some key points:
-The route will be operated by the Boeing 767-300ER with 216 seats (35 Business/181 Economy)
- A lot of people have pointed out that Delta's 767s still have the old offering, but Delta plans to roll out the updated interiors within a year, so no issue there…
-What's going to sustain this route?
-Well initially I thought about this one myself, as Detroit and Sao Paulo don't exactly jump to mind as cities with lots of traffic . But the more I thought about it, it actually makes sense. Detroit and Sao Paulo are both centers of manufacturing, so that should provide the bulk of the traffic. And Delta can grab a nice chunk of Asia-Brasil traffic, especially from the major centers of Nagoya and Tokyo..
Delta Airlines could have been upfront and just asked for 7 frequencies to Sao Paulo outright. But something tells me that the Brazilian government wasn't going to look too fairly on the application of an airline that isn't even using its current non-Sao Paulo frequencies…
image credits:
http://www.globalnational.com/world/2389211.bin?size=sw620nws
Very useful stuff. Anticipating more resources from you. Thanks!