NEW YORK — Delta Air Lines and Amtrak have introduced campaigns to woo business travelers in the Northeast corridor, a market that has become more competitive with Amtrak’s expansion of its high-speed Acela service, reports the New York Times.
Before Acela appeared in December 2000, Delta Air Lines and US Airways carried a majority of the travelers on the New York-Washington and New York-Boston routes, traditionally among the nation’s busiest.
Acela, though, has been making steady inroads against the shuttles, particularly since Sept. 11; after the attacks, increased airport security caused extensive delays, making train travel more attractive. Acela has also been gradually ramping up its operations; last week it began offering 16 New York-Washington round trips each weekday, and 9 New York-Boston trips.
Both US Airways and Delta confirmed that their shuttle business has declined — in part because of Acela, and in part because of a fall in business travel.
The one-way shuttle fares on Delta and US Airways are about $205. Acela’s business-class fare is $118 from New York to Boston, and $146 on the New York-Washington route.
Maureen P. Brady, managing director of the Delta Shuttle and Delta Express, said the company’s shuttle revenue fell 38 percent in the fourth quarter of 2001. Revenue in this year’s first quarter, she said, was down 35 percent, while in April it was off 30 percent.
Stephen Usery, vice president for marketing and revenue management at US Airways, said its shuttle revenue was down about 50 percent in the fourth quarter, while in the first quarter it was off 30 percent.
To lure business travelers away from Acela, US Airways ran a newspaper campaign in New York, Boston and Washington from early January through mid-February that blurrily depicted a businessman on the run. “Time flies,” the copy said. “It doesn’t wait for a train. Average time from curb to gate is 20 minutes for the US Airways Shuttle.”
Mr. Usery said US Airways highlighted the amount of time required for check-in in the ads, created by the Washington office of McCann Erickson, a unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies, because “people who were reluctant to fly because of the hassle were finding it ain’t necessarily so.” He said the campaign created “a little share shift from Delta.”
In mid-April, Delta introduced its own shuttle advertising campaign by Leo Burnett in Chicago, part of the Bcom3 Group. Using radio, print and outdoor media — including daily newspapers in New York, Boston and Washington, and radio stations like WINS in New York and WASH in Washington — the campaign will run through June.
In the ads, Delta appears to respond to competition from both Acela and US Airways. Both the outdoor and print ads depict the tail of a Delta Shuttle and the front engine of an Acela train. Copy in one ad says, “Planes are faster than trains,” while another says, “Nonstop plane or four-stop train?”
The print and radio ads also feature a special guarantee that Delta is offering through May 31: Travelers will receive 20,000 extra frequent flier miles if it takes them more than 20 minutes to get from the ticket counter or check-in kiosk to the gate.
Delta deliberately positioned the shuttle against Acela because “we see it clearly as our largest near-term competitive threat,” said Brad Gerdeman, Delta’s director for worldwide marketing communications. “We were not finding significant defection to US Airways, but we did find more trial of the Acela train. Therefore, we needed to look at the competition, what they offer and what we offer that’s superior to that.”
Ms. Brady added that Delta did not borrow US Airways’ 20-minute theme in making its bonus mileage offer after 20 minutes. “We came up with the idea based on our customer feedback,” she said.
Meanwhile, in March Amtrak started a print, outdoor, radio and TV campaign for Acela by E. James White Communications of Herndon, Va. It is running, for the most part, through May in daily newspapers in big cities between Washington and Boston; on radio stations like WPLJ in New York and WTOP in Washington; and on cable channels like Discovery, CNN and ESPN.
David Lim, vice president for marketing and brand management at Amtrak, said the campaign was Amtrak’s most aggressive so far for Acela. The new ads promote Acela’s expanded schedule and the services it offers compared to its air-shuttle competitors; one outdoor ad depicts an executive talking on a cellphone and asks, “What’s the point of a mobile phone if you can’t use it while you’re mobile?”
Neither Delta nor Amtrak would disclose the budgets for their new campaigns, though they confirmed the amounts would exceed 2001 spending. According to CMR, a company in New York that tracks ad spending, Delta spent $33,000 advertising its shuttle last year, while Amtrak spent $511,000 on Acela.
Hal Rosenbluth, chairman and chief executive of Rosenbluth International, the world’s third-largest corporate travel company, called Delta’s 20-minute guarantee “great.” “Any time an airline guarantees its performance it’s something in the public’s best interest. Hopefully, it’s the beginning of a trend,” he said.
But Mr. Rosenbluth also predicted that Acela would ultimately find it hard to retain the market share it took from Delta and US Airways after Sept. 11. He said the percentage of his company’s customers traveling in the Northeast corridor by air as opposed to rail in April nearly approximated the percentage of air versus rail travelers last August.