Delta Airlines is America’s largest carrier by international destinations. They offer the most trans-Atlantic destinations of any carrier in the US. This gives them a strong competitive advantage when it comes to connectivity to European destinations. The airline has even beefed up their network by expanding their partnership with Air France-KLM, Virgin Atlantic and Alitalia. There is much to be said of Alitalia, but the fact that it is included in the Joint Venture means their partners still believe in them.

For the summer of 2018, Delta has expansion plans to their destinations. Delta plans to add two brand new destinations to its network. They also plan on adding new routes to already existing destinations. The airline will be adding most of these routes to Europe.

Expansion-Expansion

Delta will be adding flights from LAX, Detroit, JFK, Atlanta, Indianapolis and Orlando. From LAX, Delta will add flights to Amsterdam and to Paris. These two flights will complement KLM’s and Air France’s respective flights. The expansion at LAX is probably due to the airline’s terminal change earlier this year. The flights will be operated by a 777-200LR. Their schedules will be as follows:

From JFK, the airline will add flights to Lagos (which had been previously reported here), as well as flights to the Azores. The flight to Lagos will be operated by an A330, and the flight to Ponta Delgada will use a 757. There will also be a capacity increase to London on a A330. For information on the Lagos flight, look at this link. The schedule for Ponta Delgada is as follows:

From Atlanta and Detroit, the airline will add flights to Lisbon and Paris, respectively. The flight to Lisbon will be flown on a 767 on a daily basis. Detroit will have its third rotation to Paris, two on Delta and one on Air France. This flight will be operated by an A330. The schedules are as follow:

Finally, the airline will be launching flights from Orlando to Amsterdam and Indianapolis to Paris. For the Orlando-AMS flight, you can read further information here. For the flight IND-CDG, feel free to read more information here.

Cuts

For these flights to be able to take off, Delta will also be canceling some routes. The airline will no longer fly to Moscow and Stockholm from New York-JFK. There are also further cuts, as the airline “suspends” their flights from Newark and Philadelphia to Paris. Finally, the airline’s Philadelphia-London rotation will not come back in 2018. These are major victories for American and United, as they have successfully pushed Delta out of their home turf. I was always confused how Delta would be able to make these routes successful at “enemy” hubs.

Landing Thoughts:

I am glad to see Delta continue to expand its international presence. They become the second airline besides SATA Azores to fly from the Azores to the US. United and American have upgraded their flights to Lisbon, and Delta is matching suit. With these new destinations, Delta continued to strengthen their position as the premier airline to cross the Atlantic. Although I give them a very hard time, Delta is probably the best run airline in the US. I hope to see United and American be run as well as Delta is.

What do you think? Are you gonna take advantage of these new routes by Delta? Let us know!

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H/T: Delta & USA Today