When you look at the map, Seattle to Vancouver isn’t that far in aviation terms.
Distance: 127 miles as the plane flies – Image – Great Circle Mapper www.gcmap.com
The route is contested by Alaska Air (using it as a feed into its US Network) and Air Canada (who use it to feed their Domestic and international routes).
Well it seems the battle is going to get a lot tastier as Delta will be throwing their hat in, with a 5 times a day service between the two cities from 5th June 2014
Seattle to Vancouver DL5437 DEPART SEA 07:45 ARRIVE YVR 08:35 DL5441 DEPART SEA 10:35 ARRIVE YVR 11:25 DL5447 DEPART SEA 13:25 ARRIVE YVR 14:15 DL5451 DEPART SEA 16:25 ARRIVE YVR 17:15 DL5453 DEPART SEA 19:15 ARRIVE YVR 20:05 Vancouver to Seattle DL5459 DEPART YVR 06:15 ARRIVE SEA 07:05 DL5437 DEPART YVR 09:10 ARRIVE SEA 10:00 DL5441 DEPART YVR 12:00 ARRIVE SEA 12:50 DL5447 DEPART YVR 15:00 ARRIVE SEA 15:50 DL5451 DEPART YVR 17:50 ARRIVE SEA 18:40 Commences: 5th June 2014 Booked Equipment CRJ-900 operated by ExpressJet Operates Daily
Currently, Delta operate the Seattle-Vancouver route as a codeshare with Horizon Airlines, who operate the route for Alaska Airlines.
So why now? Delta has slowly been building up its presence at Seattle, with international services being flavour of the day – so these will feed those routes as well as Domestic services operated by mainline and affiliates.
For those commuting between the two cities, there are some reasonable options for a day’s business before heading home too.
It is however, a capacity dump of over 380 extra seats a day, or 2660 seats a week.
With three airlines scrapping over the route, that’s a lot of seats to fill…
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DL has two ambitions. Once is to carry British Columbia travelers on its international flights from SEA: NRT HND ICN HKG PVG PEK CDG AMS LHR and perhaps HNL. Second is perhaps to feed its US flying whether LAX & LAS & SFO or else the rest of its networks like JFK & ATL…
They may need to compete on price, but Canadian fares are generally not cheap, so they may be able to undercut them at a yield that is still attractive. And to the extent it helps them fill up flights and build their SEA hub, that may be worth the cost for DL