Delta says that segmentation reaches high -end cabins

Delta airlines He is studying new types of plane tickets, this time in the premium cabins at the front of the plane.

The airlines spent years cutting their coach cabins, from additional leg space seats to basic economic rates that do not allow changes or include a seat task. Delta was a pioneer in the United States when he launched basic economic rates more than a decade with his rivals United Airlines, American Airlines and others following your example.

But now the airline executives are focusing on their premium cabins, where the demand remains better this year than in the back of the plane.

“Premium has certainly been where our margins have continued to expand, so we are very focused on continuing to provide an improved service to those customers and more segmentation,” Delta president Glen Hauenstein said on Thursday, in a call for profits with analysts on Thursday. “The segmentation we have made in the main cabin is the species of template that we are going to contribute to all our premium cabins over time because different people have different needs.”

Delta's revenues from Premium seats as an executive class increased 6% in the first half of the year to $ 10.6 billion, while the main income of the cabin economy tickets fell 4% to $ 11.7 billion. The carrier, the most profitable American airline, has said for years that their share of high -end seats and its lucrative loyalty program have been growing.

American carriers have largely abandoned the first international class in favor of the largest executive class cabins, where the seat seats have more services than past decades.

Hauenstein refused to detail the possible changes in the premium seats. It is not clear if Delta would consider a first or commercial class ticket that may not include advantages such as room access or assignments, or a potentially larger seat that could come with accessories that standard tickets do not have.

But Hauenstein said Delta is testing some possibilities in customers and topography travelers.

“We have not launched it yet, not because we do not have the technological capacity, but we want to make sure that customers understand what we are putting in the market and find value in it,” he said.

Henry Harteveldt, travel consultant and president of Atmosphere Research Group, said he is not convinced that Delta would consider a premium rate stripped.

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

Other airlines are working to equip their top -level cabins to offer some seats that have additional space and even space for a visitor, such as the planned update of United to its long -distance polaris booth and the new American seats in some of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Delta's partner, Virgin Atlantic, offers the “retreat suite” in the front of the Airbus A330 upper class cabin that can be converted “so that up to four people can enjoy an intimate dinner together in their own private social space.”

When asked if Delta will update some of her highest -end seats, CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC Wednesday that “Premium products have had life cycles … and what we think was last generation six or seven years ago is no longer.”

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