Back in 2015, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. managed to surpass United Continental Holdings, becoming the nation’s second largest airline operator, according to the latest released traffic figures, cited by The Wall Street Journal.
The operator ended the year with a total of 209.6 billion miles flown by paying passengers, surpassing with 3.3% the total from 2014. As for their main competitor and the biggest company, American Airlines, they registered a 2.4% traffic increase rate, reaching 223 revenue-passenger miles in the past year. Finally, United Continental Holdings came on the third position, with 208.6 revenue, up 1.5%.
The services kept improving, analysts say
“The reality is, Delta offers better service and a better product than United,” Adam Hackel, associate analyst at Sternet Agee CRT, said. “My first thought was people probably prefer to fly Delta now,” he added.
The main factor used to compare airlines is traffic, which translates to the number of passengers, multiplied by the miles they flew. Other factors, like the number of carried passengers, are also considered. Delta Air Lines managed to reach 179.4 million, slightly under American Airlines’ 201.2 million.
Moving on to the total generated revenue, Delta Air Lines is leading the top, with a total of $37 billion, followed by Southwest Airlines Co., with $27 billion.
Targeting overseas territories, one of the secrets
Some of the main reasons which resulted in the company’s good results are the growth at home and abroad, in places such as Brazil. Considering that the traffic is calculated using flight distance, an overseas growth can highly influence an airline’s position in tops, says Savanthi Syth, analyst at Raymond James Financial.
Back in 2008, after the merger with Northwest Airlines was completed, Delta Air Lines was the first company among U.S. airlines when it came to traffic, but the position was lost in 2010, after United also merged with Continental Airlines. Finally, American Airlines, another merger result, between American and US Airways, is leading the top since 2014.
