Delta Air Lines reports earnings today. In anticipation of the official kick-off of Q2 2024 earnings, we take a quick look at how U.S. airline stage length has changed over time.

For Delta, the average distance flown since 2010 has increased 22% from 629 miles to 769 miles.

This represents both a network and a fleet trend we have been watching over the past several decades. Airplanes are getting bigger, and flights are getting longer.

The two go hand-in-hand.

While we go back to hitting refresh on the Delta investor relations page awaiting the earnings release, we offer another look at Delta’s growth over time.

Growth for Delta over the past decade has largely been limited to the domestic market. And the airline has, indeed, grown the domestic market over 34% since 2010. This is compared to only 5% in international capacity growth over the same time.

A real test:

Normally, we pose a chart with questions immediately followed by the answer.

We didn’t do that today.

Nay, today, we offer more questions, and the opportunity for you to answer.

How are the largest 13 U.S. domestic airlines ranked by domestic stage length?

Here are the 13 airlines to help you guess: Alaska, Allegiant, American, Avelo, Breeze, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, and United.

First person to respond with the correct answer by email or LinkedIn comment earns a heap of internet respect points.

P.S. For those wondering how fresh this newsletter really is? Delta just reported 13.6% operating margins for Q2 2024.

Our research published this week

You should do a chart on…

We like to create valuable charts. But, it’s not easy coming up with new ideas amid the endless hours delivering data-driven edge to our customers. In our quest to provide a valuable weekly newsletter we can keep guessing what you find most valuable, or you could just tell us.

If you have an idea for data visualization, reply to this email and let us know what analysis you’d find most valuable. We’d love to hear from you and will happily name-drop.

If you were forwarded this email, score!

As valuable as it is, don't worry; it's entirely free. If you would like to receive analyses like this regularly, subscribe below.

Then...

You can pay it forward by sending it to your colleagues. They gain valuable insights, and you get credit for finding new ideas!

Win-win!

Subscribe here