Delta's discount airline offers entertainment perks, but airline analysts are skeptical
By ABIGAIL KLINGBEIL
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: November 18, 2003)
NEW YORK
Passengers on the new discount airline Song soon will be able to watch live broadcasts from CNN, Animal Planet and 22 other television channels while they snack on vegetarian sushi or a sandwich of shaved turkey on foccacia.
Song, started in April by Delta Air Lines Inc., is trying to draw passengers away from successful low-fare airlines like Southwest and JetBlue. Song's flight attendants wear outfits designed by style maven Kate Spade. Song's food, which is not free, is organic, and heavy on the fresh vegetables.
Song introduced its latest perk, an extensive in-flight entertainment system, yesterday at Song in the City, a temporary SoHo store where visitors can sit in Song seats, buy Song food and otherwise learn about the Song experience. The store opened last week and is scheduled to close Dec. 21.
Locally, Song flies from John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport. Song flies to 13 cities, primarily along the East Coast.
Song is targeting people who care about entertainment, style and fashion, and health and wellness, said Tim Mapes, Song's director of marketing.
The first phase of Song's in-flight entertainment includes 24 live satellite channels, 24 audio channels and video games that allow inter-passenger play. All 36 Song planes should have those amenities by the end of March. The second phase, beginning in April, includes pay-per-view videos, and a 150-album digital music collection. (Hmmm..now this might be of interest...) The system eventually could include e-mail and Internet surfing capability.
"There's no other airline operating in the United States that's better than ours," Mapes said.
Airline industry analysts and fliers expressed skepticism yesterday about Song's efforts.
"It strikes me as, I guess, bizarre would be the best word for it. In effect it seems to be that they're saying, 'Try this. It's everything we (Delta Air Lines) are not,' " said James Brock, an airline industry analyst and professor of economics at Miami University in Ohio. "It seems like a terrible indictment of themselves."
Harley Riak, executive director for Valerie Wilson Travel in Purchase, says customers' primary concern is price. He said primarily two groups of passengers — those flying long distances and those with kids in tow — care about in-flight entertainment.
Riak said those perks mean nothing if Song doesn't let people know about them. "They have to let the traveling public know, 'We have a family entertainment center in each plane,' " Riak said.
Frank Werner, a Fordham University associate professor of finance who specializes in commercial airline management, said Delta created Song to help combat the crisis it faces. Delta lost $1.27 billion last year and nearly the same amount the year before. Its high-paying business passengers began flying less when the economy softened.
Now, Delta's going after the leisure passengers with Song.
"Song is intended to be a device to force down the cost of running the business so to compete with the low-cost airlines along Delta's routes," Werner said. "Delta wouldn't be doing this if there were no low-cost airlines.
"It's going to look great for a short period of time, then it's going to fizzle," said Werner, who lives in Croton-on-Hudson. "If you're really going to do a low-cost airline, do a low-cost airline that gets costs out of the system, and doesn't add costs into the system."
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