Daily Podcast: Delta Air Lines’ Bet on Premium

Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast discusses Delta Air Lines’ earnings report, Philadelphia’s local tourism campaign, and Prince Harry’s Google assist.

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Episode Notes

Although Delta Air Lines doesn’t yet believe Covid is a thing of the past, the carrier is seeing consumers increasingly shift their spending from retail to travel — especially, premium travel, writes Madhu Unnikrishnan, editor of Airline Weekly, a Skift brand.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday that data from its co-branded credit card with American Express revealed increased travel spending. He added that consumers, frustrated by lengthy travel restrictions, are eager to spend money they were able to save during the worst of the pandemic on travel and experiences.

Bastian expressed confidence that Delta would continue to experience growth in the premium sector, which has helped drive the company’s rebound. Delta reported its March domestic revenue premium was 100 percent of 2019 levels and premium travel to Latin America and Europe has made significant progress in its recovery. In addition, Delta President Glen Hauenstein said the carrier expects to see further growth in the sector when more business travelers get back on the road.

We turn next to Google’s ongoing efforts to promote more sustainable travel options. The tech giant is using a new method to collect and display flight emissions data developed by Travalyst, a coalition founded by Prince Harry to encourage greener practices across the travel industry, reports Corporate Travel Editor Matthew Parsons.

Google published a free “Travel Impact Model” for emissions estimates on Wednesday that explains in detail Travalyst’s methodology, which Parsons writes is a move designed to encourage wider adoption. Metasearch engine Skyscanner, which — like Google, is a part of the coalition — has also adopted Travalyst’s model, and both companies will use the same data across all of their platforms.

Parsons adds that Travalyst’s other travel distribution partners — TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Ctrip and Visa — have confirmed their intention to adopt and implement its model.

We end today in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love has launched the first phase of a $3.5 million “Pack Light, Plan Big, For Philly” tourism campaign that heavily targets residents of nearby communities, writes Global Tourism Reporter Lebawit Lily Girma.

Neil Frauenglass, the chief marketing officer of Visit Philadelphia — the city’s destination marketing organization — said the campaign is focusing on local residents in part because of the fierce competition Philadelphia faces to attract tourists. Frauenglass added that Visit Philadelphia is targeting people living in the area because it believes they’re eager to support the local economy.

The city is also aiming to attract visitors from drive destinations such as New York, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Canada. Visit Philadelphia is placing ads for the campaign in Times Square and Penn Station in New York, and it’s planning to do so on buses in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore buses as well as Amtrak trains.