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Leslie Josephs penned an interesting piece about the race for the luxury air travel segment between Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. While Delta is currently ahead by virtually all metrics (including objective measures like on-time performance and profitability and subjective measures like “most premium”), CEO Ed Bastian explained the recent investments by United push Delta to find more ways to innovate.

Delta Air Lines CEO Says The Luxury Race With United Airlines Pushes Delta Forward

Delta’s new Delta One business class lounge opened in New York yesterday, which itself is a reaction to what United Airlines (and American Airlines) already offer to their premium business class passengers.

But Delta is not playing catch-up where it matters most: it’s leading US carriers in profitability and on-time performance this year, with enviable margins that exceed that of its closest competitor, United Airlines, by several points.

Bastian told Josephs that it began with bankruptcy, the restructuring that resulted, then a laser-focus on on-time performance (so employees are “not having to explain for a cancellation or mishandled luggage. They have time to serve rather than to apologize.”). Delta has an older fleet, but the fleet is (generally) well taken care of and Delta has invested in new interiors (mood lighting and seatback screens) that make even 30-year-old aircraft feel new onboard.

But another driver of success? United Airlines in the rearview mirror. Per Bastian:

“Knowing that there’s someone that thinks that they can take that mantle from us, that keeps us on our toes and keeps us continuing to drive hard.”

Bastian did not fly for the first time until he was 25 years old and has an accounting background, but has been at Delta for 16 years and now believes that Delta’s recipe for success, including its new premium lounge space, will continue to keep it as America’s most profitable airline.

But United’s Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Nocella, has similar aspirations…and sees the path to reach that point through “great service and great products and great network.”

“We haven’t exactly achieved the No. 1 profitability status in the industry, but I know we’re on our way,”  said in an interview last month. “If we continue to invest in our customers through great service and great products and great network, we know that will feed upon itself and it’ll help us achieve the financial results that we’re looking for.”

This was echoed by United CEO Scott Kirby:

“Watching them succeed, I became convinced that the product mattered and service mattered, and we have done that at United now.”

(them referring to Delta, of course)

So what does Delta have to improve on? Consistency is key…and this goes back even to the Richard Anderson era, who CEO from 2007 to 2017. Anderson said:

“One of the things about being a premium product is consistency, consistency in policy, consistency in appearance. If you got on a flight in Tokyo we wanted you to feel like you were home.”

Bastian also sees room for improvement on the mobile app:

“They’ve done some nice things with their app. I still think ours is better, but … they’ve done a nice job in terms their communications with their customers and how they manage trip interruptions.

“We’re constantly pushing each other.”

And as United and Delta push one another toward more new routes, better service onboard, and reliable on-time performance, all consumers will benefit.

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