Delta CE dismisses threat from low-cost transatlantic airlines

Delta Air Lines CE Ed Bastian Wednesday dismissed threats posed by discount transatlantic airlines, saying carriers like Wow Air and Norwegian Air don’t present a “meaningful risk” to established airlines, while asking whether long-haul discounters can continue to justify their models as fuel prices increase. “I don’t think that fuel prices, for example, are sustainable over time in the ultra-low-cost markets,” Bastian said. “Fuel prices have jumped 50%t in the last year. It’s causing a big impact on their business model and something that the bigger carriers...can actually afford and can invest against to be able to get the pricing where it needs to be.” Bastian said higher fuel prices should make transatlantic discounters more rational about what routes they fly. <br/>