Delta Air Lines is growing in Los Angeles, and looking to win there the way they built up New York and became a hometown carrier. They’re already the largest airline at LAX. They’re adding Los Angeles – Newark flights right into United’s hub and one of the most profitable routes in the country, albeit with a substandard premium product. They’re also planning to add Los Angeles – Philadelphia and Washington Dulles as well, and they’ve told the Department of Transportation that they want to fly to Manila.
- Other airlines – especially United – are gate constrained and cannot grow.
- They’ll be offering at least some service to all of the major markets from LA except Charlotte. Delta isn’t trying to be the number one player in each city pair. They just want to offer some service so that their customers don’t have to fly a competitor if they’d prefer to fly Delta (enough for a less-convenient schedule).
Delta Air Lines at LAX
Delta has become the largest carrier in Los Angeles with the most flight and seats from LAX.
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
Aviation watchdog lays out thoughts on Delta’s strategy in Los Angeles, which highlights the opportunity but also the limitations that they face – why it’s important for them to grow in Los Angeles, why they think they have a window and United might actually let them, but also why they really don’t have alternatives.
“Delta is continuing to make a push for LA, and they are making it very clear United is the competitor they are concerned about. Just after starting LAX-ORD and LAX-HKG [last month,] and then announcing LAX-EWR. LAX-IAD is believed to be coming soon.
Although there are multiple reasons, the main reason UA is viewed as the threat in LA is their international network. AA doesn’t have the international network to compete (down to just LHR, HND, and SYD year round, as bare bone as you can get). UA on the other hand has a sizable long haul network out of LAX (LHR, HND, NRT, SYD, MEL, PVG, PEK, and of course double daily HKG).
United’s long haul network from LAX is a threat to Delta because there is nowhere else for them to go. Alaska isn’t going anywhere in Seattle (internally DL is slowly staring to come to that reality), so DL’s only hope is to try to build out LAX and make it into their Pacific gateway.
Delta is banking on UA to continue to focus on SFO, while they try to build up LA. UA entering LAX-JFK is going to be a big blow for DL, but if UA continues to do more from LA, that will further threaten DL’s goals of building their Pacific gateway in LA.”
Some thoughts to read while in traffic or waiting for a relative at the ER this weekend. (🐎, 🩻, 🌯 )
"Delta is continuing to make a push for LA, and they are making it very clear United is the competitor they are concerned about. Just after starting LAX-ORD and LAX-HKG [last…
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) July 3, 2026
I personally think this leaves out a very important imperative: American Express revenue. Delta says they’re growing in Austin because it’s a strong market to sell their cobrand credit card, and that’s the highest margin revenue that they have. Delta earned over $8 billion last year from American Express, and at around 40% margin.
However, the cobrand card has stalled somewhat. They didn’t hurt their $7 billion midpoint target of the current deal by 2023 and that was before ~ 20% pandemic-era inflation which means they were actually meaningfully behind. There are 9 million Delta Amex cardholders and they are facing challenges feeding the top of the funnel to convert new ones.
But they’ve gotten to the top of the cobrand business, pulling ahead of both American and United in cardmember spend volume, by being (1) relevant in the best markets like New York, which is why they need to win LA (to pick up an outsized portion of LA spend relative to their size) and (2) reliable with a strong reputation. Their reliability is under strain, especially on the premium LAX – New York JFK route where they operate old equipment.
Delta needs LA, and they need LA for the credit card spend which is why they are positioning themselves to make a big play for it. It’s why they’ve already opened a second Delta One business class lounge there.
if you’ve had the delta credit card for some time and switching is tough (Kirby called it stickiness, I think)… I guess I get why you’d keep it but if you’re someone new that switches to delta amex…? You’d have to be the dumbest consumer on the planet vs other cards and value of the DL program.
That said, I mentioned this on another website (Matthew’s LALF) but it is interesting to repeat.
LAX size and credit card size is different than Southern California relevance.
Some Angelenos will fly out of LAX all the time but many fly LAX, when necessary, then fly from their local airport otherwise (LGB, BUR, ONT, SNA). In other words, LAX size can matter less than local relevance in the market. That’s where DL struggles and really can’t do much about it since SLC/SEA is far less useful hubs vs SFO/DEN/IAH & PHX/SEA/DFW (some don’t like it but when we’re talking credit cards and any AA or AS loyalist can get their points and loyalty rewarded flying on the joint network — despite no JV, the relevance still matters for consumers in their loyalty preferences, they don’t care about a JV or not).
If you consider that, Delta is still smaller than United in Southern California for capacity and seats. United is more relevant since United has useful connecting hubs like DEN, IAH, and SFO whereas DL has smaller hubs like SLC that simply don’t connect to many markets like DEN/IAH do and only ATL would connect to for DL.
On that same note, OneWorld has nearly 50% more relevance in Southern California airports vs United and Delta. Nearly twice the seats and flights and that’s before AA has already said they’ll grow back to be the biggest at LAX passing Delta.
Delta does a lot of marketing and has these purposeful leaks about their goals in LAX to get their fanboys excited… their fanboys (cough cough, sTD) love to isolate markets to claim “biggest” that often have a bigger story. Delta is currently the biggest metal at LAX but they also still have the least useful JV partners there and are the smallest in terms of relevance in Southern California out of the three major alliances.
Delta does “Need” LAX for TPAC but it’s only because SEA is such an abject failure for them with no real change coming in that situation except Alaska growing international and potentially joining better JVs than Delta has. The AA construction has been going on for years now. United hasn’t changed in years but all of a sudden Delta starts realizing the “opportunity at lax”? Hogwash… they’ve come to realize SEA won’t ever work.
“Nearly twice the seats and flights and that’s before AA has already said they’ll grow back to be the biggest at LAX passing Delta.”
*nearly 50% more seats and flights* rather
I am glad that you andJon Are thinking about what Delta is doing on the West Coast because it is probably the most significant aviation story among the Big Four in 2026 and will be in 2027 and beyond.
You two both get several things right but you miss several important things.
You are absolutely right that it is all about AMEX spend and Delta has proven time and time again they understand the Credit Card Co brand relationship better than any other airline.
Delta does have a facility advantage at Los Angeles and as much as some people like Max can argue that American will have new gates in the future , three years is an eternity in the airline industry and market positions can and will be upset And changed. An American has plenty of gates New York City but they have yet to regain the share they have lost over 15 years.
You are simply incorrect about harping on the 767 300 in Delta’s fleet. Delta 763s compete predominantly with United 757’s which are far inferior aircraft in terms of amenities. Even on Newark to Los Angeles half of the flights are on 757s. There is no planet on which a 763 is inferior to a 757.
And the majority of Americans transcon flights are still on a 321Ts. Competition is all about what is offered now and not what might be offered in the future
And the wet dreams some have that Seattle is a failure for Delta is simply false. Delta has always said that it intends to have a dual West Coast strategy including both Los Angeles and Seattle. The focus is on Los Angeles right now because it is a much larger local market and has less competition for the size of the local market. Nowhere has Delta ever said that it intended to overtake Alaska. Delta has said it is the largest international carrier from Seattle and that has not changed and is not likely to change. Alaska is fighting all kinds of battles including with Southwest in San Diego. They simply do not have the financial strength to launch large numbers of international flights from Seattle that Delta is just going to match with their own service
United at Los Angeles is not a threat but an opportunity. Delta has made great strides in other airline hubs including American. Delta and United have largely stayed out of each other’s way but Delta is changing that paradigm.
oh sTD: I wondered if you were sitting behind a desk clicking refresh dying to reply to me, as usual… Turns out yes
you really should get a life.
but also
noted.
no response about Delta’s lack of options in SEA and the new found “Oh wow. look at LAX all of a sudden and the situation there in the last month?! wow. who knew?” except that what they described as an opportunity has been one for years now — aka, DL clearly knows SEA isn’t what they wanted to be and can’t be now that AS is kicking Delta quickly into the dustbin there.
And also no reply even whatsoever about the relevance issue where Delta is severely lacking in LA-area airports
The hypocrisy is beyond belief. Four out of the five responses to this article are yours and you’re worrying about somebody else refreshing the page
You can’t stand that what I have said about Delta’s buildup in Los Angeles is accurate and Gary and Jon both recognize it
Delta has a unique opportunity to build Los Angeles and that is where it is focusing. For years, Delta focused on Southwest and American markets and it has shifted its focus to United markets.
It is solely in your fantasies as well as those of others that Delta is backing off from Seattle. There is simply more opportunity in Los Angeles right now.
If Delta wants to “conquer” LAX their best bet would be to go after AA. With the exception of the current Chicago situation, when an airline targets AA, you can count on AA to rollover and play dead. They hardly ever stand and fight.
“ Four out of the five responses to this article are your”
What was your quote earlier today on omaat?
“ And yet you and dozens of other people here don’t have the self restraint to just let a person post what they want and ignore them.
it would appear I have all of the control”
You’re so right, sTD
You’re so obsessed with me. I can’t even post without you replying with 10 paragraphs 5 minutes later
Cute try though, tim
But I do admire your self restraint waiting to reply to me for 20 minutes, tim
It must’ve been excruciating for you to balance your incessant need to reply to me with not looking to eager. 😉
You clearly dominate the number of posts on this article and three of them say absolutely nothing about the subject. You are the one who is fixated with me and yet in your projection you think it’s the other way around.
The Story of 2026 will be Delta taking on United in United strength markets.
As to the comment about taking on American, Delta has done it and has been quite successful in both New York and Los Angeles. It speaks volumes that United tried to duplicate what Delta has done to American and the FAA had to step in to block United at ORD
The next few years will be mighty fun for some of us and I can assure you, Max, I will be very busy celebrating Delta’s successes
There will be no story, Timbits. DL will never win LA or significantly expand there, for one reason: Evil never triumphs.
@ Tim — Delta will never be significantly ahead of where thay are today at LAX. Manilla is not a profitable market. Are they TRYING to lose money?
@ David
If standing up to an fellow hubbed oppo worked at ORD, AA likely won’t stand down at LAX for DL. In fact, AA should lean into LAX as their miles are far more valuable than DL or UA.
(Our own private chat…)
United has limited growth in SFO, which means they need a meaningful presence in Southern California. While they are addressing SFO terminal problems, the real issue is the runways. The FAA stopped parallel “visual separation”, which impacts clear weather capacity on top of the periodic runway maintenance.
Certainly using a 767 on cross-cross trip is not a long-term economical plan. United with be retiring the 757s long before Delta has a more economical option. And then there’s Delta’s WiFi issues, which are also longer lasting. I’m not saying Delta can’t do it, but there are definitely a number of challenges.
Delta flying one flight a day to HKG looks desperate. They are the little runt named Tim wanting to play with the big boys but can’t. United has 2 daily to HKG from LAX and SFO along with a daily Cathay.
Money loser incoming.
Delta may win those who travel domestically like LA-NYC, but they aren’t going to win asian travelers. Both Amex and Skyteam sucks in Asia. In any case, it feels like we are near the shark jumping moment when even the masses realize airline status is meaningless when they are selling F upgrades for $35, and therefore why bother putting money on airline cards. Delta is especially vulnerable since their miles redemption value prop is so piss poor.
Not touching the nuances of the DL v UA conversation apart from saying I hate the 321 and if Delta thinks it’s going to get a foothold vs wide body aircraft, I think Delta is wrong. I stupidly flew Delta F PDX-JFK in a 321 and was shocked at how a brand new plane could be so utterly uncomfortable.
Umm, no, no single airline needs to ‘win’ any specific airport… we want healthy competition, as consumers, workers, investors even, because otherwise you get monopolies and complacency. C’mon.
“(T)hey’ve told the Department of Transportation that they want to fly to Manila”
Good luck with that one.
Apparently Delta has secured the right to fly to Manila as part of Philippine’s request to serve Chicago. Given that United flies twice per day from San Francisco, Delta should be able to do just fine on much more efficient A350s from Los Angeles where there is no US carrier service.
The A350 Is a much more capable and efficient aircraft then the 787s that American and United uses. The A350 1000 arrive in just a few months and will give Delta size and efficiency that no other US carrier can match. They will be heavily deployed at Los Angeles
As to the comment about the 767’s on Transcon routes, Delta is already the largest airline between New York and Los Angeles and it did it largely with 767s. Delta also flies other aircraft including the A330’s which are getting suite products if they don’t already have them And let’s not forget that half of United’s schedule A Newark to Los Angeles is on old ready 757s
Delta is the only one of the big three that is not planning to use a 321 on transatlantic flights. If a narrow body is uncomfortable on a trans Atlantic flight, then Delta will have the advantage with an all wide body fleet. And United has the most seats on its domestic configured a 321s
No matter how much the Internet will object, delta has a very good chance of doing at Los Angeles what it has succeeded at doing in New York and Boston against other airlines. United just happens to be in Delta’s crosshairs now.
TPAC destinations 2016/2025:
UA: 23/32
DL: 15/8
AA: 8/7
@Rebel
United certainly has a better TPAC network than AA or DL, no doubt.
But are routes like BKK-HKG really TPAC? If UA was flying to BKK from SFO, sure, but for a lot of their NRT-CEB/UBN type routes, they aren’t really TPAC but more Asian destinations. There’s no crossing of the Pacific on United to fly NRT-UBN, the Flight to NRT for an American from DEN, sure, that’s TPAC but pure dots like ROR with no North American flight aren’t really TPAC in the true definition.
I guess stuff like the Island hopper is TPAC though.
You make a good point. My point was more about how much Delta shrank in the Pacific.
“Delta is already the largest airline between New York and Los Angeles and it did it largely with 767s.”
first thing in the morning and you’re already wrong, sTD.
No, delta is not the largest airline between NYC and Los Angeles. Delta is the largest airline between LAX and New York, but not between Los Angeles and New York (look above for the Los Angeles Airport relevance points I made — you didn’t seem to understand it yesterday).
Between the two transcontinental NYC airports and LAX/BUR/ONT/SNA, United has 22.3% more flights than DL with 10.2% more seats than Delta. Again… you could learn something about airport relevance. This is where Delta struggles… the relevance is non-LAX LA airports.
Fun fact, AA also flies 1.3% more flights between NYC and Los Angeles than Delta. But, per their strategy, significantly fewer seats since they’re largest on narrow bodies.
You two can and will argue about fractions of a percent while failing to grasp the big picture. LAX is by far the largest O&D Airport in the country and Delta is the largest Airline there and intends to get bigger. It is the LAX market that matters even if there are secondary airports that are worth serving and where other airlines including Southwest are larger.
The point about all of the intra Asia flying that UA tacks on to ita network is precisely why they are vulnerable to Delta’s growth. Delta has no intention of flying a bunch of intra Asian flights when it has a joint venture partner with the largest hub in Asia that can carry traffic to just about any destination that Delta will not or it cannot serve non stop from the United States.
And you two will not admit that Delta’s advantage is its profit advantage and it is that ability that Delta has to grow in places that strategically matter not places like Mongolia or Greenland that gives DL the advantage that no other airline can match. And that is even before considering the much greater capabilities and efficiency of the A350
So MUCH I don’t admit when it’s not even being discussed to know it’s something to admit 😉
Just use facts and data, tim
This isn’t hard.
The delta of your wet dreams isn’t the delta of reality no matter how much you try to lie it into existence.
Happy 4th
Get outside for once in your life
I have been outside plenty today and am not through.
Gary laid out many of the facts. Jon added others
The reality is that Delta is fully committed to growing its Pacific network and LAX
you have never been able to admit that Delta leads and is doing it even more so. And I called this years ago.
Maybe the internet isn’t the best place for you if you cant stand the reality that others including me see
We will see lots of fireworks this year and beyond.
Your mental illness never disappoints
Happy 4th, sTD
Here’s hoping you get some help in the coming year
Let’s be clear, Max. The only mental illness is with somebody that obsesses over the amount of time somebody else spends on the Internet.
you have made it abundantly clear for years that you can’t stand that I actively participate in many sites including this one.
But let’s be even more clear. I have a depth of understanding of the airline industry that you simply cannot touch.
I have said for years that it would be easier for Delta to expand into United’s Trans Pacific markets than it would be for United to grow its presence in the domestic market.
Shortly after the Northwest merger, Delta was the largest trans Pacific airline. But it was built around the Tokyo hub which wasn’t even a viable strategy even if it wasn’t at Narita.
because of covid and the Korean Asiana merger, Delta has waited for a decade to get back in the game across the Pacific. With the A350-1000s coming and the largest domestic position at LAX, Delta is in an extraordinarily strong position to be able to challenge United in the very places where united is strongest: TPAC and the West Coast.
meanwhile, 10 years into Kirby’s reign, United is still 4th out of four in most non hub domestic cities. I said before and it remains true today that American, Delta and Southwest are simply not going to give up share in highly competitive non hub markets and that has been the case.
Delta will grow on the West Coast and it will add more service to Asia from JFK and other Eastern US hubs and it will also build Seattle. But for now its focus is on LAX and it is taking advantage of the opportunities that any number of bloggers have recognized Delta has.
You can bang the keyboard and tell the world of the mental illness you think I have, but it is abundantly clear I know what I’m talking about and have known it for years. Delta is growing across the Pacific, to the Middle East, and to South Asia and it will in regions where American and especially United are stronger.
If only advising your opponents ‘go outside’ and ‘touch grass’ was actually an effective strategy in arguing with online strangers… if it were, we’d probably have ‘world peace’ by now. Instead, it’s still more Coke vs. Pepsi. Personally, I’m a fan of watching folks claim ‘victory’ in a game that no one is keeping score of. That’s the best. (No, wait, better yet, attack me, personally. Go after those four-digits, boss. Let ‘em have it! ‘1990, you sonova…’)
1990
You and l don’t agree on everything, I respect you and I’m glad you are part of the online community.
Delta and United are for profit companies and as such have metrics That measure their success.
LAX is the largest O and D market in the country. The Pacific has historically been a very challenging region for US airlines. United had a head start over American and Delta by dozens of years with the acquisition of Pan Am’s Pacific network.
Delta is focusing on what it strategically needs which is a larger position on the West Coast and Trans Pacific.
Delta has a very strong record of growing hubs in markets that are competitive with other airlines.
This isn’t just a Coke versus Pepsi and people are very much monitoring what is going on.
I predicted years ago that Delta’s competitive focus would shift once again to the West Coast and to growing its presence in the Pacific and the mere fact that Delta executives have said they intend to challenge United speaks volumes about what will take place in the next few years.