business

Oh, joy! Delta's giving Texas more wings—because heaven forbid they invest in healthcare instead.

Oh, fabulous! Delta's finally decided to grace Texas with more routes. Because, you know, the Lone Star State was just desperate for more carbon emissions and crowded airports. Thanks, Delta, for doing your part in clogging up the skies while the planet burns. Can't wait to see where these pollution paths will lead!

Published October 3, 2024 at 8:30am by Beck Andrew Salgado

Delta Wants to "Keep Austin Weird" with Five New Flights, While Other Airlines Flail

Oh boy, where do I even start? So, Delta Airlines is all like, "Hey Austin, we love you so much, we're gonna give you five new nonstop routes!" Starting in March, you can fly daily to Panama City, Florida, because who doesn't love a good spring break nightmare? And if that's not enough, they're also throwing in Indianapolis, Memphis, San Francisco, and Tampa. Delta says it's giving Austin customers "more options than ever before." Because, you know, choices are cool.

Meanwhile, Delta's been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride with its stock. Remember that IT disaster in July, caused by none other than Austin's own CrowdStrike? Yeah, that was a hot mess. Delta claims it lost $500 million, and its stock dropped almost 9%. But hey, at least they're still the most valuable airline in the world, right? According to Statista, they're killing it in brand value, revenue, and all that jazz.

Now, let's talk about American Airlines. They're over there slashing routes like it's going out of style. In September, they announced they're cutting four routes to and from Austin. This is after they already axed 21 flights in 2023 and five more in July. American was all, "Sorry, not sorry, we'll still get you where you need to go... eventually."

And then there's Southwest, bless their hearts. They're finally joining the 21st century and switching to assigned seating. In a news release, they said, "Hey, people like knowing where they're gonna sit." No kidding! They're also rolling out premium seating and red-eye flights because why not?

Finally, Spirit and JetBlue are making some "structural changes." JetBlue wanted to merge with Spirit, but that got blocked, so now they're cutting 20 routes and bailing on five cities. Spirit, on the other hand, is going all fancy with premium seating. Because budget airlines are so last year.

And there you have it, folks. The wild world of airlines. Buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Beck Andrew Salgado covers trending topics in the Austin business ecosystem for the American-Statesman. To share additional tips or insights with Salgado, email Bsalgado@gannett.com.