Delta Air Lines’ Huge Summer Alaska Expansion

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: February 19, 2022
Published: March 12, 2021

37 comments

During the pandemic, airlines have had to completely rework their approach to route planning, given how the demand for travel has shifted. The good news is that with the current vaccination timeline in the US, travel should very much be possible this summer, especially domestically.

We’re seeing airlines update their schedules to reflect that. In the case of Delta Air Lines, the Atlanta-based airline has just announced a huge expansion to the state of Alaska this summer, which is worth highlighting.

In this post:

Delta’s big summer schedule to Alaska

Delta Air Lines has just added a bunch of new flights to its schedule for travel this summer to Alaska. This includes the launch of new routes, as well as additional frequencies in existing markets. In total, Delta will fly to five Alaskan destinations. Let’s go over the details.

Delta is planning a lot of Alaska service this summer

Delta’s service to Anchorage

Delta’s expanded service to Anchorage (ANC) includes the following:

As of May 5, 2021, a daily flight from Atlanta (ATL), which will continue into the fall with three weekly frequencies; this will be operated by a Boeing 767-300ER, featuring flat beds in business class (this is Delta’s only flat bed service to Alaska)
As of May 5, 2021, a third daily flight from Minneapolis (MSP)
As of May 5, 2021, a new year-round nonstop flight from Salt Lake City (SLC)
As of May 28, 2021, a new weekend service from Detroit (DTW), Los Angeles (LAX), and New York (JFK)
As of June 18, 2021, up to seven daily year-round flights from Seattle (SEA)
As of June 19, 2021, a second daily summer seasonal flight from Salt Lake City (SLC)

Delta’s summer schedule to Anchorage

Delta’s service to Fairbanks

Delta will offer six daily nonstop flights to Fairbanks (FAI) from major hubs this summer, including the following:

As of May 5, 2021, daily nonstop flights from Salt Lake City (SLC)
As of June 19, 2021, a third daily nonstop flights from Seattle (SEA)
As of June 19, 2021, a second daily nonstop flight from Minneapolis (MSP)

Previously Delta’s only year-round flight to Fairbanks was out of Seattle, while Minneapolis and Salt Lake City service will be extended to year-round as well.

Delta’s summer schedule to Fairbanks

Delta’s service to Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka

Delta will offer summer seasonal flights from Seattle (SEA) to three additional cities in Alaska, which will start Memorial Day weekend and go through the end of September. This includes:

A daily Seattle (SEA) to Juneau (JNU) flight with a Boeing 737-800
A daily Seattle (SEA) to Ketchikan (KTN) flight with an Embraer E175
A daily Seattle (SEA) to Sitka (SIT) flight with an Embraer 175

Delta’s summer schedule to other Alaskan destinations

Bottom line

While Delta has offered a significant amount of service to Alaska for quite a while, the airline is taking it to the next level with this latest expansion. Delta isn’t the only airline doing interesting stuff in Alaska this summer — American will fly a 787-9 to Anchorage, while United will operate an intra-Alaska route, from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

It’s fascinating to see how the pandemic has impacted airline route planning, and the next few months should lead to a lot more interesting routes. It’s clear travel will make a comeback in the coming months, though odds are that the focus will be more on domestic travel rather than international travel. I can’t wait to see what else is added.

What do you make of Delta’s summer expansion to Alaska?

More discussion »

Support OMAAT

Conversations (37)

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Comment as a member

Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.

Loading comments…

Recent Comments

The latest from the OMAAT community.

Tim Dunn Diamond

March 14, 2021, 3:38 pm

Delta doesn't block flights. For the month of March, Delta is operating more flights from Austin than all other airlines except for Southwest. I'm not sure why you want to keep pursuing the AUS discussion. Ben chose to write about Alaska. I don't know why he didn't discuss AA's AUS expansion but I noted the reasons why it really isn't relevant to Delta. AUS comes down to gate capacity for each airline. Delta had the least amount of gates at AUS before the concourse extension was built and said it got access to preferential gates so that it has as many gates - maybe more - than other airlines. Unless AA also gained gate space somehow, they either weren't operating their AUS gates to capacity or won't be bringing back all of their flights - other than SJC. AUS can handle all of the capacity any airline throws at it given how quickly the area is growing and given that the concourse will be full anyway. Meanwhile, Delta is adding service to Alaska - which is what Ben wrote about.

‼ 0

Sal Guest

March 14, 2021, 2:54 pm

@Tim Dunn. Your stats are ignoring Delta's seat blocking- with that AA is 50% larger.

‼ 0

Sage Kennedy Guest

March 13, 2021, 8:26 pm

As a Colorado native, I am happy to read this as maybe more tourists will visit Alaska and bypass Colorado. Visit Alaska!

‼ 0

Tim Dunn Diamond

March 13, 2021, 4:19 pm

According to this month's schedules, Delta is the second largest carrier at Austin. And whatever AA or anyone else wants to do at Austin depends on gates. It is very likely that the reason why Delta dropped BNA as a focus city is because the airport is not expected to have any growth gates for any carrier for years. Delta reportedly gained preferential gate access at AUS which is very likely they 1. made it a focus city and 2. aren't going to be impacted by what AA does because AA, like every other carrier, has gate capacity limits. and 3. Most of AA's new routes are competitive with WN, not DL. There is a good chance that WN will be the one that needs to step up capacity as long as they have gates. meanwhile, Delta's Alaska expansion is showing up in schedules and involves a 40% increase in flights and seats and a nearly 50% increase in ASMs. Delta is the 2nd largest major carrier in Alaska for this summer based on current schedules, just over twice the size of AS in ASMs, 3x larger than United and more than 2X larger than American. And Alaska is conducive to red-eye flying which means they can stretch their fleet further.

‼ 0

Tim Guest

March 13, 2021, 2:37 pm

As a Alaska resident and a Delta Million Miler it's great having the new flights. My only wish is that Delta would start non-stop flights to Hawaii. Delta did for a short time after buying Western Airlines.

‼ 0