With an expanding fleet and a relatively new leadership team
in place, Delta Private Jets is exploring ways to work more closely with its
big commercial sibling, Delta Air Lines, according to Delta Private Jets executive
vice president and COO David Sneed. First up is a plan to offer Porsche
transfers from the private jet to the commercial plane.
Delta Private Jets launched about three decades ago as
Comair Jet Express. Delta renamed it after acquiring
Comair at the turn of the century. Recent years have seen "a focused
attempt to grow the fleet and build it into a real contender in … business
aviation," said Sneed, a longtime Delta executive who took the lead at the
subsidiary about a year and a half ago. Subsequent executive appointments have
come largely from outside the airline industry to provide "unique
perspectives to look at this business," he said.
Today, Delta Private Jets counts about 70 aircraft in its
fleet, ranging from small Cessna Citation II models for short hops to
Gulfstream G650s capable of nonstop international flights. The fleet will grow
to 80 within a year, Sneed said. Delta also has worked to refurbish the fleet
both in appearance and with technology upgrades, such as its current
project to equip the fleet with Gogo Biz 4G service.
As those upgrades are completed, Delta Private Jets is eager
to leverage Delta Air Lines to target high-end travelers, and Delta Air Lines is
eager to do the same, considering it's the only U.S. airline that has a private
jet subsidiary, Sneed said. "It has run separately for a lot of years, and
this team decided it has to be a big part of what Delta is offering."
Some of that is already in place. Delta Private Jets card
users, for example, already receive Delta SkyMiles Diamond status and earn
SkyMiles for their private jet travel. And in addition to using those cards to
purchase private jet travel, users also can use them to purchase commercial
Delta flights at a discount.
VIP Transfers
This week, Delta Private Jets announced it will offer VIP
transfers—Porsche, an Delta escort and expedited security screening—for passengers
connecting to commercial service at Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, Los Angeles,
Salt Lake City, New York, Seattle and Cincinnati.
Many private jet users fly domestically and then switch to
commercial first class for international legs, Sneed said. This gives those
travelers an incentive to stay on Delta. "We have a seamless solution,
where they can fly from Atlanta to New York and then New York to Paris, using
their [Delta Private Jets card] funds to book both," said Kelly Love,
Delta Private Jets vice president of corporate strategy and business development.
The transfer service is the first of several announcements about
cooperation between Delta and Delta Private Jets, Sneed said, adding that the
two sales teams also look for joint opportunities.
Ultimately, that cooperation could allow Delta
to become more competitive for high-end travelers who are based outside of
Delta hubs. "If someone lives in Dallas, they're almost forced to be loyal
to American Airlines because you have all the nonstop service," Sneed said.
"This will be an offering that will be able to go into other areas and
compete for high-net-worth individuals flying private domestically, bringing
them into the Delta system."