Delta Air Lines has just announced a significant expansion in West Africa this northern summer (southern winter), with both capacity increases and product improvements. This complements Delta flying more premium A350s to South Africa as well, which I wrote about separately.
Continue reading: Delta Grows In Africa: Lagos Expanded, Accra Upgraded
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
meanwhile, AA announced some cuts to JFK-ATH, JFK-BCN, ORD-CDG after Sep 3.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/26/american-airlines-cuts-some-international-flights-citing-boeing-delays.html
I may be wrong, but I believe Delta also used to fly to Abuja, Nigeria.
Delta has been the leader in U.S. airlines for flights to Africa for a while. United recently expanded their South Africa flights, and at that point United may have beat Delta in Africa. But Delta has had a strong West African route network for a while.
Delta was the first of the current big 3 into Africa and there is no shortage of very peak season demand.
Delta pulled the A350 off of DTW-HND to send it to LOS during the peak Christmas/New Years holidays.
both 30 and 34 are larger than 26. Not hard to figure out.
Why is it surprising?
UA has done a great job at playing catch-up, but DL started its expansion into sub-saharan Africa considerably earlier, and is still down quite a few cities from its peak number of destinations (no longer serving Abuja, Cairo, nor Monrovia) previously served to the continent.
@ Tim Dunn — So is there anything I’m missing with the claim of more than 34, or is it inaccurate? Are you saying Delta is… wrong?
DL previously flew its own metal to Abuja, Cairo, and Monrovia.
It filed to serve Malabo and Nairobi, but neither ever commenced.
Airline marketing claims are generally very thin in a good day. Depending on the wording, they can claim both directions (68) or cherry pick a specific week where they happen to have an extra flight for whatever reason.
honestly, Ben, do you not have anything more important to do in life to argue about than whether Delta incorrectly put a "more" into a sentence?
and, I suspect that if you looked at Delta's entire yearly schedule, their statement is probably correct because there are or have been flights above the peak schedule.
why don't you count EVERY flight that Delta has scheduled and get back to us w/ that number? K. - thanks
Jesus, Tim, you are an @$$. “Not hard to figure out”? Yes, Ben pointed that out. Delta also said “more than 34” and Ben asked a legit question. You just can’t stand it when Delta is wrong.
btw, Ben, Gary threw down the gauntlet and showed your site gets way more clicks than yours does?
Are you needing to try to argue w/ me to get your page views up?
“Your site gets more clicks than yours does”
Hmm
34 is greater than both 30 and 26 but that statement is zero divided by zero,
Nigerian Market is huge. DL to Lagos is definitely an option. What hurts JFK is lack of good connections. Not enough flights e.g. between ORD to JFK. ATL is much more connected. Much better to fly DL than connect in Europe. Or transit via ADD on Ethiopian. But it all comes down to price. I will connect if significantly cheaper in Europe and need to go to LOS.
@ Tim Dunn -- With no disrespect to Gary, I think it's pretty obvious which of his posts get the most traffic, and they're not the ones that are substantive or add value. He has done an impressive job greatly increasing his traffic in the past couple of years, and there's a direct link between that and those kinds of posts (about fights at airport, sex, etc.). I'm curious, does it seem like that's an area where I'm trying to compete?
I just find it very strange how you're trying to make me feel bad, rather than just confirming that my understanding is correct, and that Delta is wrong here. I'm not sure why that's so hard for you to admit?
The A330-900 feels like to much premium for JFK-ACC. A 767-400ER or an A330-300 feels more appropriate.
I'm not trying to make you feel bad. If you feel bad, it is your choice.
I am perplexed at the compulsive need you have to find something wrong w/ Delta and invariably wait for me to post so you can argue w/ me - if you haven't already mentioned me in the article.
You have 3 choices on this issue, Ben.
1. Count the number of flights that DL has scheduled
2. Call Delta and ask them to justify their number
3. File a complaint w some government authority that cares (doubtful - anyone does) or
the obvious: quit arguing incessantly about inconsequential stuff esp. if you are looking for page clicks.
I hardly agree w/ everything Gary writes but his numbers are either right or they are not.
Just a point of information - United has reduced their IAD-ACC service to just 3x weekly for the summer peak season (and all the way through to December).
It’s seems pretty apparent to me that DL is referring to Africa in a “regional” context and not based on the literal definition.
It just takes a glance at their website to see they lump in Middle East with Africa, so flights such as to TLV are most likely included.
that is beyond laughable.
A blog operator that has named me in his articles and jumps on comments I write, all surrounded by faceless mockers that can't stand to read or write that United isn't the first in anything.
The only real takeaway is that Delta IS the largest airline between the US and Africa.
and the new A350s will open up some new opportunities.....
Ghana seems to moan and complain about every airline that sends aircraft to their country. British Airways and Emirates also had than Ghanian authorities moan. Kinda ironic considering Ghana can’t run a successful airline.
ConcordeLadyBoy + Tim Dunce = Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum of aviation.
At least Sean M speaks from experience in Africa.
Ben, when will you be introducing an "ignore" or "mute" button in the comments section?
No special reason, just wondering.
these cowards that aren't smart enough to come up w/ their own user names is indeed beyond annoying.
But, remember, Ben is all about page clicks
This article talks about flights operated by US carriers. It would get even larger if you include codeshares and if you expanded it to the entire continent.
Tim Dunn needs to go touch grass and stop living on other dude’s blogs. Sad existence.
I don't see a problem with anything concord boy has said here. At least its on the topic. Tim dunn was crazy rude to Ben, and I'm surprised hes allow to still stay here
no readers want to see the comments section turn into a pi234ng match. It is no surprise that I and others participate in multiple sites. EVERY OTHER site that I participate in has cracked down on political comments and personal attacks on other users.
I have been involved in aviation social media long enough to know that it was AA fans a few years ago and now UA fans that constitute the vast majority of those that can't stand to read the facts that I regularly present.
Ben hasn't cleaned up and yet his page clicks are way down the list of mileage and card sites. You can decide if there is a correlation but you have to wonder.
When the site operator joins in the same low-quality posts that some of his participants do, you have to ask who understands the plot and who is getting played.
Hey Ben, both Lagos and Accra are in the Northern Hemisphere. Why would it matter if it's southern winter when both are so close to the equator and in the north side that the information is irrelevant?
Will there be an article on the DL 767 that returned to JFK after an emergency slide came loose inflight?
I’d also be curious as to what drives an FAA audit. DL had a nose tire come off of a 757, an engine panel come off inflight on an A330, and now an emergency slide come loose inflight. All within a few months.
How is DL not being audited the way UA is?
Serious question, but is it just a matter of the UA issues being recorded on video, resulting in more media attention and public pressure on the FAA to do something?
Could make interesting analysis.
I wish Ben would use Disqus for comments so that I could block you, Tim. You bring your drama here EVERY day and try to make Ben’s blog about you, rarely offering any insight and never any sense of humor. And now you’re attacking Ben on the facts. That drama-seeking is Real Housewives behavior. Please take it elsewhere.
serious answer.
Ask the FAA. Or better yet tell them why DL should have a safety audit and list the incidents which YOU think should trigger an investigation of DL's practices.
I suspect the 767 slide incident wasn't much different from the 777 and 757 wheel - aging aircraft issues. UA's fleet is older than DL's.
and while there have been maintenance issues at both airlines, the larger concern is pilot related:
WN has had multiple engine issues but the FAA isn't launching an investigation on them.
No Delta pilots misconfigured the flaps on a 777 which came just hundreds of feet from ditching in the Pacific and then flew on to the mainland so the recorders were overwritten.
No Delta airplanes slid off the runway at 2x the safe speed to make that turn.
No Delta aircraft were landed so hard in perfectly good weather that they were damaged.
just my guesses... but do ask the FAA; they, not social media, determines who to investigate.
and perhaps it had something to do with Scott Kirby's excoriating comments about the FAA and DOT last summer....
no, I really don't bring drama.
Some people create drama about me and Ben just fuels it.
Read the sites where I participate and the blog owner doesn't allow the drama from anyone.
It works.
And some of those sites get more pageview than this one.
Ben, I am grateful that you have not followed Gary's model. I do credit Gary for on thing: for flagging, many years ago, the value of reading your blog. Of course, I later stopped reading Gary's blog as it morphed into View from the Clickbait.
I’ll agree with Tim on some issues, except the glaring “aging issues” comment. Nonsense! Airline maintenance is to ensure safe operations regardless of the aircraft age, until retirement/scrapping at least.
He sure does everything to provide sound bites for DL…
As a DL diamond that flies to Africa usually twice a year I still fly KLM or AF as their network is far better and allows me to make further connections much easier. I’m on the west coast so makes just as much sense to connect in Europe and have more cities available compared to the east cost with DL and still limited cities. Just flew back to the US this week LLW-NBO-LAX.
DL announced a further relationship with KQ recently (last year?), but I’ve found that I can never get codeshares to populate on tickets. and then I’ve seen them start to reduce flights that did have a DL / KL flight number and now they don’t. Very frustrating to not be able to get around the continent even though a sky team member is based there.
"honestly, Ben, do you not have anything more important to do in life to argue about than whether Delta incorrectly put a "more" into a sentence?" - the guy who sits here arguing with the blogger and commenting on every single other reader's comment.
When has Concordboy posted factually questionable or in any way inflammatory comments?
Damn, I'm booked on AA JFK>ATH on 10/15. It's not pulled from schedule yet. It shows thru 10/25 so far. Had AA kept that original A350 order from USAir pre-merger, they might actually be doing much better. Remember, as favorable Delta is now, it wasn't always. By late 90s and even until about 2009, DL was not viewed as anything special. Their marketing with the Donald Sutherland voice-over tv commercials around 2008ish are still some of the best. They had a strong negative customer service perception & they made a 180° about face and kudos for maintaining it for so long. The industry is cyclical so who knows how the big 3 will fare in 10 years.
This isn't just an issue with this blog. I've seen the same ad format recently introduced on many Boarding Area blogs, including Live and Lets Fly and View From The Wing for example.
Honestly, this entire comments section is embarrassing.
Truthfully though, Ben is using Tim for engagement baiting. Look at the comments every time this happens. And while it sucks to get dogpiled, Tim takes the bait every time.
Ben can pretend he's better than Gary for clickbaiting. But I guarantee this article type does way more than the generic copy paste articles on Hilton selling bonus points that Ben does as filler content.
You know those have more premium seats @34 seats compared to 29 seats of A330NEO
Mauritius/Seychelles isn't even possible with today's Aircraft.
It's simply too far for a leisure market.
The A350 they sent to Lagos was the LATAM A350
Those definitely don't fly DTW-HND
They probably got it from somewhere else (thinking Amsterdam)
Mauritius/Seychelles isn't even possible with today's Aircraft.
How do you figure?
Both 787 and A350 could do either from NYC with no problem. It'd light money on fire, but "possible" isn't at issue.
I wonder if DL has reached any agreement with the Nigerian govt about repatriating revenue? Nigeria has been on of the worst offenders and caused a few airlines to reduce frequencies or cancel routes.
Yeah, but watching a loser make a bigger loser out of himself over a company day after day after day is always amusing
let's be clear that they all use airline news and discussion content to sell page clicks that justify the rates they charge for their loyalty program and credit card content - which they all disclose they get a commission form.
The difference on this site is that Ben is the only writer that has not cleaned up the personal attacks on other users as well as political discussion which invariably infiltrate comments sections across the web.
Users consistently say they don't want any of it. Responsible blog users clean it out.
Let's also be clear that I am an asset to blog operators. One travel site cited me in their discussion even though I don't even participate in their site.
I am happy to help ANY travel related blog that I find information and entertaining by providing honest commentary.
I DO NOT want to be the subject of any of them or be disproportionately given attention above any other user.
Ben does a pretty good job of developing content. Others are much better at breaking news, esp. late in the day or when Ben is traveling - which is a higher percentage of time than many blog operators. Others blow anecdotal incidents and experiences out of proportion but THAT is the content that often gets the most clicks.
Delta is the largest airline between the US and Africa and that is a title they aren't likely to give up.
Faceless mockers like tim Dunn?
Or worldtraveller?
Or atl100miion?
Sorry
Which one of your fake names are you referencing here, tim?
No surprise you were literally clicking refresh first thing in the morning in case anyone posted a comment to reply with seven paragraphs
You’re such a loser, tim
And so hilariously predictable
It isn't a surprise that DL developed its Africa network since it has a JV with both AF and KL and still watches hundreds of thousands of tickets be written on DL metal to AMS or CDG and then on to Africa.
As has been noted, DL has had plans to serve even more African cities but security issues (such as NBO) or challenging and changing politics have scuttled alot of service.
Africa is growing in influence in the world and is deepening economic ties w/ many parts of the world. There are many African descended people in the US (and elsewhere) so there is a healthy VFR market.
African routes generate yields higher than to other parts of the world. With hubs in ATL and NYC, DL is well-positioned to carry as much or more African traffic than any other airline.
Here's to more flights between the US and Africa with Delta continuing to lead the industry.
“Delta continuing to lead the industry” with, at most, one extra flight a day to an entire continent. Several days of the week it’s the same flight count.
I guess DL should claim network superiority wherever they can, since it’s the only region of the world where they (just barely) can.
The areas of AA (South America) and UA (North Pacific, South Pacific, Atlantic) network superiority are much more pronounced.
the only loser is someone that comes to the comments section repeatedly ONLY to trash someone else.
As usual, you have nothing to add to the topic but you sure manage to show up to trash people.
sad.
really sad
Depending on whether you consider the Canary Islands as Africa, isn’t that a few extra frequencies for United?
Yes. maintenance is supposed to ensure that aircraft of any age are safe.
Problem is that how some components age is not known until they fail and that includes the 777-200ER incident on UA as much as the 757 nose wheel on DL.
I would bet that both incidents resulted in or will result in increased understanding of how to test and take care of those components.
Some people that know are saying that the design of the 767 overwing slides is prone to failure. It has happened before. Not sure of the reason but the FAA and Boeing are undoubtedly well aware.
considering that before DL started service to Africa, there were precisely ZERO US carrier flights to the continent, that is as much leadership as to any other region.
And, whether you want to understand it or not, not a single person buys tickets because of the size of an airline in a specific region or even city. They buy based on whether an airline can take them where they need to go. The combination of all of those buyers might translate into a greater opportunity for one airline.
But UA's larger Pacific size doesn't translate into greater profits or revenue per seat mile. They just get more of the same revenue as DL gets to the Pacific.
And you do remember - if you choose to believe the truth - that UA lost money flying the Pacific from 2017-2019 because they chased size which meant flying alot of routes to China and HKG which did not make money.
Even in the first 9 months of 2023, DL earned more per seat mile flying the Pacific than UA.
and of course, the nearly dollar for dollar advantage in int'l revenue that UA has is DL's advantage in domestic revenue.
DL made far more profit over the Atlantic in 2023 than UA despite UA's larger size.
and domestic size and revenue is far more conducive to credit card deals and Scott Kirby knows that which is precisely why UA is focusing on domestic growth.
Go ahead and brag about UA's larger size. DL will grow its international presence and revenue as fast or faster than UA will grow its domestic presence.
and DL's growth will be far more efficient and profitable because it got rid of the least fuel efficient widebodies and has the most fuel efficient widebody aircraft on the planet coming online over the next 5 years.
Tim, you were the one pointing out Delta leads the industry from one side of your mouth while pointing out United’s lead in other parts of the world is irrelevant.
I was setting you up to help point out your inconsistent viewpoints, depending on the airline being discussed. Thank you. You make it too easy.
You are joking right? LALF is a cesspool of racist bigots commenting. Ben’s is G-rated by comparison.
Tim, I was only setting you up so you could point out your inconsistent viewpoints on airline size, depending on the airline in question. Delta leads the way in Africa, but United’s dominance in the Pacific is irrelevant.
Thank you for being predictable.
I don't participate in that site.... I'm sure some of the fakers have used my name, though.
Mark,
to no surprise, you have lost the plot.
Did you forget that the fur started flying when I told Ben that "more than" really didn't matter?
The markets of Africa are as different as the markets of Asia. While there are certainly some companies that fly to multiple countries in a region, very few companies fly to every city in DL's African or UA's Asian network.
And the reason that UA is vulnerable on its Asia/Pacific network is because 75% of its capacity is to/from SFO which is a hugely valuable hub but it makes it very hard for UA to defend that hub and still grow. Cranky just did an analysis of how poorly UA did in so many Asia/Pacific markets because it continued to grow SFO beyond what that market could absorb - even w/ connections - while also trying to grow at LAX - mostly to try to block DL's growth there.
DL did better w/ its new capacity than UA by load factor according to CF's data.
DL has 6 TPAC gateways and all of them (except HNL) have service to 2 or more destinations. UA has 7 TPAC gateways but 4 of them only have service to Tokyo.
DL's TPAC and Asia growth is just starting. UA will find it much harder to grow further than DL will.
and given that DL is already generating margins higher than UA and DL's growth will be more efficient, the certainly that some of you have about UA's growth might not hold up to reality.
btw, what is UA's next African route since that is the subject?
Agree that I don't see how Concordeboy is a problem, but I do think this site is getting overrun by Tim Dunn and his clones, who I'm not convinced aren't just Tim arguing with his own self using different screen-names.
I'm pretty sure Matthew from Live and Let's Fly has tried to dox Tim.
They were scouring the internet for personal information and making blog posts about it.
Regardless of what you think about information being on the internet, I think it's bad practice for people with platforms to blast personal details about someone in your community. It's tacky at best, dangerous at worst.
No.
Doesn't matter what anyone "considers," the fact of the matter is that the aviation bilateral concerning flight authorities between the US and Canary Islands, is subject to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as per April 2007.
Or TL;DR... for flight purposes, it's clearly Europe, not Africa
Can't wait for Air Peace's Lagos-New York service! But connections beyond Lagos might be difficult
you do realize that the person you are replying to is a "guest" and not the "diamond" that I am? Ben is the only blog operator on a site that I participate in that allows duplicate user names.
as to the comment above about people trying to dox me, the laugh is how wrong they are w/ what they say - but are convinced they are right and I am wrong.
It is only dangerous if they are right and the other person has anything to hide.
It is childish for those that incessantly focus on other people instead of comment and still get the info they write wrong
It is also a lack of connection at Lagos. Increasing amount of people travel between U.S. east coast to China via Cairo or Addis Ababa, but Air Peace cannot even make Lagos-Guangzhou work out, not to say to Chengdu or Hangzhou.
lmao genuinely incredible that Tim is still coming back for more even after getting his derriere served up to him on a platter complete with whipped cream and a ribbon, what a guy
now *that* is #content