Delta says segmentation arrives in high -end cabins

Delta airlines Studies new types of plane tickets – this time in premium cabins at the front of the plane.

Airlines have spent years raising their coach huts, additional legs for the legs at the basic economic prices that do not allow changes or do not include a seat assignment. Delta was a pioneer in the United States when he launched basic economic rates more than a decade with rivals United Airlines,, American airlines And others that follow suit.

But now, the leaders of airlines focus on their premium cabins, where demand resists better this year than in the bottom of the plane.

“The premium was certainly where our margins continued to develop, and we are therefore very focused on providing improved service to these customers and more segmentation,” Delta president Glen Hauenstein said on Thursday during a call for results with analysts. “The segmentation we have made in the main cabin is in a way the model that we will bring to all our premium cabins over time because different people have different needs.”

Delta revenues for premium seats and the business class increased by 6% in the first half to $ 10.6 billion, while income from the main cabin tickets dropped by $ 11.7 billion. The carrier, the most profitable American airline, said for years that its share of high -end seats sales and its lucrative loyalty program have developed.

American carriers have largely abandoned the international first class in favor of major business class cabins, where flat -related seats have more equipment than seats in recent decades.

Hauenstein refused to detail possible modifications to premium seats. It is not clear if Delta would envisage a cheaper or commercial class ticket which may not include advantages such as access to the show or assignments of seats, or a potentially larger seat which could come with additional modules that standard tickets do not have.

But Hauenstein said Delta tests certain possibilities on customers and examines travelers.

“We have not yet unrolled it, not because we do not have the technological capacity, but we want to make sure that customers understand what we put on the market and that they find value,” he said.

Henry Harteveldt, travel consultant and president of the atmosphere research group, said that he was not convinced that Delta would consider a stripped bonus rate.

“The planes are expensive … and it’s much easier when you give your passengers a reason to pay more for your product than to pay less,” he said.

Other airlines are working to equip their high-level cabins to offer some seats that have an additional place and even space for a visitor, such as UNITED’s planned update to its POLARIS LONGRIER cabin and to the new American seats on some of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Delta’s partner Virgin Atlantic offers the “retirement continuation” at the front of the upper class cabin of Airbus A330 which can be converted “so that four people can enjoy an intimate dinner together in their own private social space.”

When asked if Delta updated some of its most upscale seats, CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC on Wednesday that “Premium products have had life cycles … and what we thought was the tip of art six or seven years ago.

“We continue to update it and update it. This is part of the business cost,” he said. “But our product will be very, very nice.”