Delta to offer more connections in Austin focus city. Will it ever be a hub?
Austin isn't technically a Delta Air Lines hub city, but the Lone Star State's capital sure has the airline's attention these days.
Looking at a U.S. map, you'd be hard-pressed to find another city that has seen Delta jets roll into town at the pace Austin has seen in recent years — a product of the carrier doubling down on its longtime "focus city."
This year, Delta is set to fly 85% more departures from Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) than it did just three years ago, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The airline is also set to get more than a dozen new gates at AUS in the coming years as part of a massive terminal expansion. And, the carrier tells TPG that renovation includes a "new, centrally-located" Sky Club, which Delta confirms will complement its existing Austin outpost.
This Texas-sized build-up begs the question: What else could be coming? More flights to vacation spots, for starters.
Delta: More leisure routes coming to Austin
After announcing routes to places like Phoenix and San Jose, California, Delta will soon boast Austin service to nine of the 10 biggest U.S. metropolitan areas — and most of the top domestic cities for business travelers.
That's key for a city like Austin that has blossomed into a major tech hub this century and is home to the University of Texas.
But those passengers — turned SkyMiles members — need places to go on the weekends, and Delta executives have long argued that part of Austin's appeal is the chance to turn corporate flyers into American Express credit card-carrying loyalists.
"You want to make sure people have a place to go and burn those SkyMiles, as well," Amy Martin, Delta vice president of network planning, told TPG in a recent interview. "The business passengers are clearly some of our big bread and butter, but they take leisure trips."
Indeed, SkyMiles redemptions were top of mind when Delta recently revealed wintertime service to Fort Myers, Florida. Ditto for this summer's nonstop flights to Glacier Park International Airport (FCA) in Kalispell, Montana.
Read more: Most Delta Amex cardmembers now get a second checked bag for free
And those are merely two examples. Check out the map below to see how the carrier has expanded its Austin footprint from just a few years ago.
| Year | Delta's peak daily departing flights from Austin |
|---|---|
2019 | 28 |
2026 | 65 |
Potential for international Austin service
With all that growth, it's fair to wonder whether Delta's Austin map could someday include long-haul international service, which View from the Wing recently reported could be on the horizon.
"We're always evaluating what the next best opportunity is," Martin said, playing coy. "I don't have anything to share right now — but we are always looking at that opportunity."
When asking the question, I admittedly had visions of the Eiffel Tower in my mind, since Paris is both a major Delta market in Europe, and a city to which Austin flyers currently don't have a nonstop flight.
For now, expect the airline to keep trying to chip away, domestically, at the sizable lead maintained in Austin by perennial market leader Southwest Airlines; despite the splash Delta has made at AUS in recent years, it remains the remains the No. 2 carrier in town (a spot it's reached thanks, in part, to American Airlines rapidly pulling back from the airport.)
AUS: Total departing flights by airline
From focus city to hub?
There is history for Delta in taking a one-time focus city in turning it into a hub.
The carrier did just that with Boston in 2019. But in the long term, Martin doesn't seem to envision the airline pushing all its cards into the middle of the blackjack — err, Texas Hold 'em — table in Austin in the same way.
"I think right now we're continuing to kind of focus on building out those top local markets," she said. "More on the focus city model."
But over the coming years, when you go to book a Delta flight, there likely will be more chances to skip the Atlanta layover in favor of a short stop in Austin: The carrier plans to offer many more connections at AUS, Martin said.
That alone would be a big shift for an airline, in Delta, that's the only "Big Three" U.S. carrier without a Texas hub — a shift the carrier is looking to capitalize on for years to come.
"We've made some very good inroads," Martin said. "We still see a lot of opportunity to build out."
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