Delta: South America Boost

BY JOACHIM BAMRUD

Christophe Didier has reason to smile. Despite Delta's domestic problems and growing fuel prices, Didier's job is tied to one of the company's shining stars: Latin America.

"The last years for us have been a tremendous success," says Didier, Delta’s vice president of sales and government affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean. "Revenues has duplicated the past three years. We’re doing fantastic right now except for the oil price, which is out of control.”

Delta has doubled its Latin America flights from 300 to 600 and destinations from 30 to 60 the past three years, he points out.  Since December alone, it has added five new routes in Central – and South America. And during the last four months of the year, it plans to open another three routes in Latin America.

“They are growing all over the place,” says Robert Booth, chairman of U.S.-based consultancy AvGroup. “They want to become number two in US-Latin America and are well on their way.”

The expansion is part of Delta’s strategy to become one of the major players...

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Keywords: Argentina, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela