Amid Arbitration Anxiety, Delta Expands to Small Delaware Airport

While arbitration panel chair Richard Bloch was busy scolding both Delta and its pilots’ union for their failure thus far to reach an agreement that would save the airline, Delta’s executives were busy making a move that has baffled some.

Delta announced today that it would begin commercial flights to and from a small Delaware airport less than half an hour’s drive from Philadelphia International. The facility, New Castle County Airport, hasn’t seen commercial air traffic since 2000.

One theory is that the airline is trying to market itself as the only carrier that serves all fifty states, but is a marketing gimmick really worth the investment? Particularly for an airline that may not survive to see its jets take off from Delaware tarmac?

Only time, and the pilots’ union will tell.

UPDATE: March 29, 2006, 2:20 p.m. It appears that the marketing gimmick angle has won out. Delta is trying to turn around its image from bankrupt airline to thriving company by announcing that it is the first airline to serve all 50 states.