Delta Air Lines will begin to roll out a business cabin with private suites next year. United Airlines announced it is launching a luxury business section, dubbed Polaris, starting in December. (Delta Air Lines)
The battle among airlines to win over the big-spending business traveler intensified this week, with Delta Air Lines announcing a business class section of private suites on long-haul flights.
Delta?s plan to roll out its so-called Delta One section on the carrier?s new A350 jets, starting next year, comes a couple of months after United Airlines unveiled its Polaris business class section, with pod-like suites and lie-flat beds on international flights.
The latest upgrades are prompted by several changes in the industry, including a surge in airline profits over the past few years because of lower fuel costs and a series of mergers that reduced competition for domestic flights. ?The airlines now have some money burning a hole in their pockets,? said Rick Seaney, chief executive of the travel website Farecompare.com.
A trade group for the nation?s airlines has reported that the average profit margin for the country?s top airlines was 14.1% in 2015, or 14.1 cents on every dollar of revenue, nearly on par with the average for major U.S. corporations of 16.5%.
So it makes sense that the airlines would invest some of those profits to keep or expand their appeal to business travelers, who generate the lion?s share of airline revenues.
U.S.-based airlines also a...