Delta Has An Internal Plan To Win Los Angeles — And A Rare Opening Before American And United Can Respond

Delta is planning a second business class Delta One lounge at LAX. That isn’t an accident, or just about crowding at the current one. Aviation watchdog JonNYC lays out plans that Delta has to grow in Los Angeles, taking advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity to entrench a lead in a city that’s been neck-and-neck between Delta, American, and United for years.

Data from aviation analytics company Cirium shows the relative position of the major airlines at LAX for July (including their regional carriers):

	Flights	Seats	ASMs
Delta	9,512	1,529,742	2,684,656,571
American	8,941	1,360,346	2,721,481,449
United	8,696	1,451,910	2,857,031,041
Southwest	4,626	750,118	719,823,327
Alaska	3,728	565,516	810,534,501
JetBlue	1,507	240,031	592,318,722

Delta Air Lines at LAX

Delta sees that the time is now to move. If they increase their service footprint, and better serve the needs of Angelenos, they will capture an outsized share of loyalty – and therefore credit card spend – in this most important of markets.

• American has pulled back at LAX. They decided they couldn’t compete long haul, and retrenched to fly only to joint venture hubs. They’ve also had limits on flying based on gate availability due to construction.
  
• United’s facilities are currently limited in LA.
  
• And smaller carriers in the market have shrunk.

So – according to leaks from JonNYC – Delta is eyeing a moment to seize the market.

pic.twitter.com/HqAqoY5lJl

— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) June 3, 2026

Also mentioned that they expect to surpass UA in ex-LAX cargo tonnage (and "leave AA in a distant 3rd place")

— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) June 3, 2026

Delta says they are growing in Austin because its a strong market to acquire high spending Amex customers and that’s the major driver of their profit as they push towards a goal of $10 billion revenue per year from American Express.

Delta From The LAX Sky Club

They have the strongest cobrand deal because it’s deeper than other airlines, organized as something of a joint venture, and extends beyond just credit cards even to the purchase of jet fuel. But it benefits from 3 things uniquely:

• Delta’s strong brand and historical performance (more reliable, more premium)
  
• Their strong position in markets like Atlanta and the Upper Midwest where there’s little competition
  
• And scale in major spending markets. Delta built up New York by buying the US Airways slot portfolio at LaGuardia and then investing in branding. Now they dominate New York spend. They built a Seattle hub, where they’re a distant second, and get a foothold into Pacific Northwest tech spend. Becoming number one in Los Angeles (while they grow in Miami) will accelerate Amex spend even more.

Delta has operational challenges out of Los Angeles on flights to New York, where they fly old equipment. But they have the best premium ground experience. And they’ve been building their flights. They even told DOT they want to fly Los Angeles – Manila.

Delta Gate at LAX

The airline is really at an inflection point. Their once vaunted operational reliability advantage has shrunk. Their premium transcon inflight product is inferior. They’ve selected a new wifi provider for only half their fleet that will be available starting in 2028 – at the earliest – while United, Alaska, Southwest and American leapfrog them with Starlink.

But they have a coveted position in New York, and because of slot controls their position is largely protected from competition by the government (unless someone buys JetBlue). The Atlanta and Upper Midwest markets aren’t on the verge of being contested. Los Angeles is a real battleground.