Aviation Journalist suggested recently that Seattle is Delta Airlines worst performing hub financially

The most profitable and often best rated US airline, Delta is known for its success rate in its hubs and new market expansions.

That said, the hub in Seattle is struggling badly as Delta battles Alaska Airlines. An aviation analyst had reviewed publically available data from the DOT about a year ago and concluded that 95% of Deltas Seattle routes are among its worst routes. In other words almost nothing is performing well.

There are a couple implications: – Delta will likely continue to fight and invest in the short term with low fares, new routes, and lounges to win people over. Seattle customers will benefit from the push. – this push will make it harder for Alaska who will need to withstand the capacity and investment without losing money (more capacity = Lower fares) – the fun will not continue forever. Eventually delta will have to admit defeat or they will push in enough to defeat Alaska (Delta has essentially wrecked JetBlue in NY and Boston after a successful expansion that sees JetBlue losing lots of money now…it is suggested JetBlue may be eventually bought). Deltas goal is to dominate every hub and Minneapolis / Detroit / Atlanta are monopoly hubs where Delta charges insane airfares. Likely that would be the ideal endgame for them. But if Delta lost no doubt Alaska would raise fares so I’m not picking sides.

What are Seattle residents thoughts on the battle, who do people want to win, and are people prepared for the fare wars to not last forever ?

It seems to me the biggest takeaway is that Seattle residents have stayed loyal to Alaska.