Delta’s Song to Start L.A.-to-New York Service

Delta Air Lines Inc., which has been moving to transform its business to reduce costs and attract more fliers, said Wednesday that it was expanding the service of its low-fare carrier Song to include round-trip service between New York and Los Angeles.

The Atlanta-based company, struggling with higher fuel costs and low fares, also named Joanne Smith as Song’s president. Smith, who had been Song’s vice president of marketing and was serving as interim president, succeeds John Selvaggio, who left the airline in October.

Under the expansion, Song will offer seven daily nonstop round-trip flights from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Los Angeles International Airport by June 18. The first flight takes off May 1, when Song plans to add 12 new Boeing Co. 757s to its fleet of 36.

The expansion also calls for flights from New York to San Francisco, Seattle, San Juan and Aruba. Song currently flies nonstop to Los Angeles from Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa in Florida.

Delta, the third-largest U.S. airline, began Song flights in April 2003 in response to increased East Coast competition from JetBlue Airways Corp. and Southwest Airlines Co. Song was designed to win back customers in popular leisure markets by offering lower fares and amenities such as leather seats and seat-back televisions.

“I don’t think that these low-cost units are going to be the make-or-break issue for any of these big airlines,” said Philip Baggaley, a New York-based Standard & Poor’s analyst.

Delta had a $5.2-billion net loss last year, the biggest annual loss ever in the U.S. airline industry. The company doesn’t break out results for the Song unit.

United Airlines parent UAL Corp., which is under bankruptcy protection, started a low-cost, low-fare unit last year called Ted, also in a bid to compete against JetBlue.

Delta shares rose 16 cents to $4.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Associated Press and Bloomberg News were used in compiling this report.