Pelham Aviation by Michael Gutta

  COVID-19 Takes Its Toll On Delta Flagship Aircraft September 13, 2020 By: Michael Gutta   On May 14, 2020, the CEO of Delta Air Lines Ed Bastian made a shocking announcement due to the global coronavirus pandemic: the airline would retire its Boeing 777 fleet within a mere 8 months. The statement from the airline started by saying, “Delta plans to retire its 18 widebody Boeing 777s by the end of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The retirement will accelerate the airline’s strategy to simplify and modernize its fleet, while continuing to operate newer, more cost-efficient aircraft.” There have been many aircraft put into storage and several aircraft type retirements for airlines around the world, but this has been the biggest fleet announcement for a United States airline. What makes this announcement even more surprising is that the Delta 777 fleet is only an average of 15 years old, and the whole fleet has been refitted since 2018 with the latest seats and...

Atlanta to Seoul 5 Year Route Analysis August 19, 2019 By: Michael Gutta In this edition of the Pelham Aviation blog I decided to look at the past 5 years of travel data from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia to Incheon International Airport (ICN) in Seoul, South Korea. The inspiration for this post comes after having a connection at ATL and taking off directly past a Korean Air 747-8i parked at gate F1 of the international terminal. I decided to look back at the one-way travel data for this city-pair which has been served by Korean Air, Delta Air Lines, and Asiana Air Lines (cargo only). Per AirwaysMag.com, Korean Air has been flying into Atlanta since June 2002. Delta previously offered service for a brief period and then resumed service on June 3, 2017. Asiana’s seasonal cargo service seems to have ended on this route. I investigated the total market between these two cities, the split between carriers, and finally, the different aircraft ty...