Delta announces new service from Seattle to Hong Kong and Seoul Incheon!

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: August 21, 2013
Published: August 21, 2013

27 comments

Late last year Delta announced some big expansion plans for Seattle, which included BusinessElite seating on their flights to New York JFK, more flat beds on international flights, and more international service.

A few weeks ago Delta announced new service between Seattle and London Heathrow starting March 29, 2014. The new service will be operated by a Boeing 767-300 featuring fully flat beds in business class.

London_Service

Meanwhile today Delta has announced new service between both Seattle and Seoul Incheon as well as Seattle and Hong Kong. The services launch June 2 and June 16, 2014, respectively, and will operate daily. The Seoul Incheon service will be operated by a 767-300, while the Hong Kong service will be operated by an Airbus A330, both of which will feature fully flat beds.

Seoul_Incheon_Service

Hong_Kong_Service

Of course as a local I’m a bit biased, but I think Delta is making a brilliant decision by having Seattle as a gateway to Asia. Seattle is the closest US gateway to Asia, and airlines can save a ton of money by operating shorter transpacific flights, because the economics of ultralonghauls just don’t work out in most cases (think of how much extra fuel you have to burn just to carry the last few hours worth of fuel on a longhaul flight).

I find the Seoul Incheon service interesting since they’ll be going head to head against Asiana and Korean Air, but given the amount of connecting traffic in Seoul Incheon due to Korean Air, I’m sure there will be plenty to go around.

Now, while I’m on one hand excited that I’ll be seeing more big planes in Seattle, I don’t think I’ll ever take these flights. Delta has the least generous international upgrade policy of any US airline. Good for them that they can get away with it, I guess, but it certainly makes me lose interest.

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Carl Guest

August 23, 2013, 1:39 pm

Somewhere I read a DL press release that says its Asian gateway are Detroit, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Seattle - does that mean they are withdrawing service from MSP?

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eponymous coward Guest

August 22, 2013, 1:42 pm

" I know I was probably adding a stop but that didn’t bother me since I was getting at least 13 hours in an amazing business class on CX rather than a so so experience on Delta. For me flying to Asia in business class is all about the experience and service you get." And for a lot of people, it's about time, money and the seat. Some people would rather be home with their kids instead of getting caviar in a suite by taking a more convoluted routing. I can't say that I blame them.

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lucky OMAAT

August 22, 2013, 11:52 am

@ travis -- I'll try to find an article on this because I forgot the exact statistic, but let me try to explain nonetheless. Say you have a 10 hour flight vs. a 15 hour flight. For the 15 hour flight you're carrying tens of thousands of pounds of extra fuel over what you'd need for the first 10 hours. The cost of carrying that fuel is immense (think of it like cargo for the first 10 hours of the flight), because not only is it potentially displacing cargo due to weight restrictions, but the higher the weight of the plane, the more fuel it has to burn. This is the reason we're seeing some airlines cut ultra longhaul flights, because they have to be extremely high yield to make any sense.

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Santastico Diamond

August 22, 2013, 7:58 am

@eponymous coward @ lucky Ok, let me clarify. When I fly to Asia for business I always fly on paid business class. I did MSP to Asia route for 3 years in a row flying every 2 months to Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore, Manila, KL, etc... I had the option to fly Delta from MSP to Tokyo or Portland and from there connect to my final destination in Asia. Or I could do what I did almost all the time: MSP to SFO or LAX on Delta and then Cathay to HKG and from there to my final destination. I know I was probably adding a stop but that didn’t bother me since I was getting at least 13 hours in an amazing business class on CX rather than a so so experience on Delta. For me flying to Asia in business class is all about the experience and service you get. There is no way to compare Cathay and Delta. By doing that I had access to the amazing Cathay lounge in HKG, got upgraded to first class couple times and exceeded 1 million miles on AA and got gold for life. Thus, that is why I said that unless I am based in SEA I would prefer to fly Cathay rather than Delta to Hong Kong.

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Andrew F Guest

August 21, 2013, 9:47 pm

You can fly your favorite type of business seat, the reverse herringbone is featured on the DL A330s

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