A few days ago, Delta officially announced plans to launch an exciting new long haul route, as had been predicted by JonNYC. I want to provide a quick update, as the schedule for the flight has now been published, and flights are expected to go on sale in the next few days, so let’s cover everything we know.
Delta will return to Hong Kong after eight years
As of June 6, 2026, Delta will launch daily nonstop flights between Los Angeles (LAX) and Hong Kong (HKG). The flight will operate with the following schedule:
DL5 Los Angeles to Hong Kong departing 11:30PM arriving 5:00AM (+2 days)
DL6 Hong Kong to Los Angeles departing 9:25AM arriving 8:00AM
This is a pretty standard transpacific schedule, though I’ll note that the flight out of Hong Kong limits the amount of connectivity there. That’s not surprising, since clearly Delta’s focus is on serving the Hong Kong market, rather than those connecting beyond there (who will be routed through Incheon).
The 7,260-mile flight is blocked at 14hr30min westbound and 13hr35min eastbound. Delta will use an Airbus A350-900 for the 7,260-mile flight, featuring 275 seats. This includes 40 business class seats, 40 premium economy seats, 36 extra legroom economy seats, and 159 economy seats.
For context, the company last operated this exact route all the way back in 1995. Meanwhile, Delta pulled out of Hong Kong back in 2018, which the airline described as a “difficult business decision.” At the time, the airline served Hong Kong out of Seattle (SEA), where it has been building up a long haul hub in recent years.
However, Delta’s transpacific network has so heavily been focused on routing everything through Seoul Incheon (ICN), given that Delta has a transpacific joint venture with Korean Air. Delta also has a respectable presence at Tokyo Haneda (HND), but aside from that, service to Asia is very limited.
Los Angeles is a surprising gateway, no?
I can’t help but find it interesting that Delta plans to return to Hong Kong out of Los Angeles, rather than out of Seattle.
For one, the Los Angeles to Hong Kong route is already very well served, with United operating two times daily flights, and Cathay Pacific operating three times daily flights. So Delta’s service to Hong Kong won’t exactly be competitive.
Meanwhile Seattle to Hong Kong has no service from any airlines. Delta’s transpacific service to Asia out of Los Angeles is otherwise limited to Shanghai (PVG) and Tokyo Haneda. The airline operates flights to the South Pacific, but that’s a distinct market.
So I’m not sure what to make of Delta now wanting to resume flights to Hong Kong out of Los Angeles, rather than Seattle, where the carrier has a bigger transpacific network and less competition. Is Delta dabbling with the thought of shifting more transpacific capacity out of Seattle and to Los Angeles, or what’s the logic here, exactly? If anything, one would think that Delta would keep building up its Seattle presence at the moment, to beat Alaska to the punch on expansion.
Clearly this is an area where Delta is trying to catch up with United, and will operate with a significant disadvantage. United has four daily flights from the West Coast to Hong Kong, while Delta will have one. And that says nothing of United’s much greater connectivity at its two West Coast hubs.
Also as of June 2026, Delta will be launching a new route from Los Angeles to Chicago (ORD), with three daily flights. That service is obviously much less interesting than Hong Kong, but it’s still noteworthy how Delta is entering two markets where United is quite strong. Funny enough, United CEO Scott Kirby has stated he feels complimented that Delta is launching these routes, and predicts the airline will lose money in these markets.
Bottom line
Delta has announced plans to launch a new route between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. The daily service will start as of June 2026, with flights operated by the A350-900.
Delta pulled out of Hong Kong in 2018, with the route at the time being out of Seattle. Delta has been so heavily focused on its transpacific joint venture with Korean Air, and funneling passengers through Seoul Incheon. This is all super interesting, and I look forward to seeing how this plays out.
What do you make of Delta launching Los Angeles to Hong Kong flights?
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