The long-planned low-fares unit from Delta Air Lines will use the name Song for its response to its start-up low-cost rivals. Delta intends the project to hit back at JetBlue and AirTran Airways on routes between the north-east USA and Florida.
Song will begin operations in April with a dedicated fleet of 36 Boeing 757-200s, each with 199 seats, flying for up to 13 hours a day among eight airports. It anticipates that the high capacity and utilisation rates will bring down costs enough so that it will not need lower labour costs to start. To grab flyers already swayed by JetBlue's cool image and its pioneering live in-flight television, Song plans to offer live television as well as internet access, games and music players on board.
Landor branding consultant Richard Ford, who led the team that chose the name and designs for Song, explains the choice: "We hoped to get away from an airline name. We wanted a name and image that suggested simplicity as well as affordable elegance." Global Aviation Associates consultant George Hamlin notes that "it is difficult to brand something as generic as music or song, but this is a bold move".
Hamlin adds that Song may send a clear message to JetBlue to stay out of its territory. But Unisys R2A's Ron Kuhlmann says that with 199 seats, Song buys "unit-cost improvements at considerable risk" by giving it 23% more seats than JetBlue and 45% more seats than Southwest to sell just to keep even. Even if Song succeeds, it does little to lower Delta's system-wide costs.
Delta has a north-east/Florida market share of about 20%, while JetBlue has about 11% of the market, gained in the last three years. An earlier low-fares experiment, Delta Express, was cut back dramatically after 11 September.
Elsewhere, United Airlines continues to plan for its low-fares unit. It could shift as much as 30% of its capacity to the unit, now codenamed "Starfish". But its unions have objected to United's ambitious plan and balked at its cost demands. Northwestern University professor Aaron Gellman, a noted sceptic, dismisses the Starfish project as a consultant's unworkable idea. United, which still has about 15 months in its reorganisation plan, ended its low-cost Shuttle by United in late 2001.
DAVID FIELD WASHINGTON
Source: Airline Business
