Delta Air Lines Challenges

Least Admired Company: Delta Air Lines The aviation industry has seen significant changes that have had massive impact on the operators due to the globalization and the shifts in local economic trends over the past decade. This has meant that the airlines have had to make significant adjustments as well as innovations that would enable them to stay afloat in the industry.

However, amidst all the coping strategies that airlines have adopted, there are still some airlines that face massive challenges in ensuring they meet the local as well as the global demand for their services, one such is the Delta Air Lines. The Delta Air Line has a long history, and was started as a crop dusting operation in 1924 under the name Huff Daland Dusters and since then ahs grown and diversified into passenger and cargo services with a global reach. They once indicated to be serving 160 million travelers globally.

The air line has however faced several challenges, some of which are not unique to the airline alone. Safety is a global challenge that the airline faces with the onset of repeated attacks and targeted attacks at the air lines in the recent past. Global terrorism especially in the aviation industry has seen Delta Air Line to invest a lot in security measures both within the aircraft and the operation bases and terminus.

These are costs that make it harder to profitably operate since they are hard to pass down to the customers. The other global challenge facing Delta Air Lines is the environmental conservation concern. The emissions are a constant concern in the global market with airlines continually shifting to the more eco friendly engines and aircrafts that generate least possible greenhouse gasses.

The adaptation of the greener aircrafts whose engines have been refined by technology to use friendlier fuels like bio-fuels means a higher cost, which, taking into account the already crowded and competitive market, is a challenge to Delta Air Lines. This extra cost makes it hard to shift to the newer technologies, in effect losing some of the environment conscious clients to the airlines that have adhered to these guidelines (Samantha S., 2014).

There are as well local challenges that Delta Air Line faces, one such significant are the internal programs initiated to retain clients. The airline introduced the earning of points per mile travelled that would be redeemed once one achieves 125,000 miles accumulative. This however proved hard to meet and the airline increased the requirement to include one having to spend at least $12,500 on the carrier. This was aimed at cutting out the frequent travelers who are on a budget.

However, even with the changes, the loyalty points program referred to here as Skymiles by Delta Air Lines proved not easy to implement hence they stopped accumulation of points from partner carriers like Korean Air hence further cutting out more clients on such basis. These changes and shifting standards dampens the spirit of the customers who would opt for the airline just because of the SkyMiles (Grant M, 2013).

The irony is that the locally competing airlines strive to make the accumulation of their loyalty points easier each passing day in order to attract all categories of travelers as opposed to Delta Air Lines that seems to concentrate on retaining elite travelers only. On the basis of the above challenges and barriers that Delta Air Line faces, there is need to change the trend of Delta Air Line purchasing old aircrafts that other airlines do.