A bit over a month ago, American announced some transatlantic expansion for the summer 2018 season. Last week United announced some transatlantic expansion for the summer 2018 season. And now it’s Delta’s turn…
Delta has just announced some transatlantic expansion out of Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York, for next summer. Some of the expansion is seasonal, while some of it is year-round.
Here are the details:
Los Angeles to Paris
Delta will operate 3x weekly Boeing 777-200LR flights between Los Angeles and Paris beginning June 16, 2018. The schedule will be as follows:
DL156 Los Angeles to Paris departing 12:00PM arriving 7:55AM (+1 day) [Tue, Thu, Sat]
DL157 Paris to Los Angeles departing 3:15PM arriving 6:25PM [Wed, Fri, Sun]
This will complement Air France’s service between Los Angeles and Paris, given that the two airlines have a transatlantic joint venture.
Los Angeles to Amsterdam
Delta will operate 4x weekly Boeing 777-200LR flights between Los Angeles and Amsterdam beginning June 16, 2018. The schedule will be as follows:
DL78 Los Angeles to Amsterdam departing 12:00PM arriving 7:55AM (+1 day) [Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun]
DL79 Amsterdam to Los Angeles departing 3:35PM arriving 6:25PM [Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat]
This will complement KLM’s service between Los Angeles and Amsterdam, given that the two airlines have a transatlantic joint venture.
Since Delta gave up their Los Angeles to London flight to Virgin Atlantic, Paris and Amsterdam will be Delta’s only transatlantic flights out of LAX.
New York to Ponta Delgada
Delta will operate 5x weekly Boeing 757-200 flights between New York and Ponta Delgada (in the Azores) beginning May 24, 2018. The schedule will be as follows:
DL417 New York to Ponta Delgada departing 8:30PM arriving 7:30AM (+1 day) [Tue, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun]
DL217 Ponta Delgada to New York departing 9:15AM arriving 10:30AM [Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun]
Delta will be the only US airline flying to the Azores, as Azores Airlines is otherwise the only airline offering direct service between the US and the islands.
New York to Lagos
Delta will operate 3x weekly year-round Airbus A330 flights between New York and Lagos beginning March 24, 2018. The schedule will be as follows:
DL415 New York to Lagos departing 10:55PM arriving 2:50PM (+1 day) [Mon, Wed, Fri]
DL215 Lagos to New York departing 11:30PM arriving 5:30AM (+1 day) [Tue, Thu, Sat]
This news was actually announced about a month ago, and what’s new isn’t the route as such, but that it’s being operated by an A330, which features a much better business class product.
Atlanta to Lisbon
Delta will operate daily Boeing 767-300 flights between Atlanta and Lisbon between May 24 and September 4, 2018. The schedule will be as follows:
DL122 Atlanta to Lisbon departing 7:30PM arriving 8:45AM (+1 day)
DL123 Lisbon to Atlanta departing 10:30AM arriving 2:45PM
Portugal sure is a hot destination lately, as both American and United recently announced that they’re increasing service to Portugal.
Other previously announced & new services
I consider the above to be the most interesting, though there are some other new routes that Delta has in the press release, some of which have been previously announced:
- Delta will be adding 5x weekly year-round flights between Orlando and Amsterdam as of March 30, 2018
- Delta will be adding 5x weekly year-round flights between Indianapolis and Paris as of May 24, 2018
- Delta will be adding a third daily flight between Detroit and Paris as of May 16, 2018
Bottom line
This is some significant expansion on Delta’s part. As I always say, while additional frequencies are always a good thing, I get especially excited about new routes altogether. For example, I love Delta’s new route from New York to the Azores, given that the only other option for getting there is Azores Airlines, which is… not great.
The routes that have just been announced aren’t yet bookable, unfortunately, so I can’t speak to award availability on the routes. Hopefully Delta makes some saver level space available when the flights are loaded.
What do you make of Delta’s transatlantic expansion?
WOW!!!... finally. Azores Airlines won’t have the monopoly and be able to charge what the (bleep) it wants. Competition always makes one try harder. Better customer service would be nice. Talking to customer service at Azores Airlines is depressing. Rude ignorant workers
I’m very curious about the IND-CDG route. Has Delta ever operated a transatlantic from Indianapolis? And it’s not even a hub! Even my home airport, MCI, has more passengers going through it than IND. Why do you think they added this route?
One thing economy passengers might want to keep in mind for the new Delta-operated 777-200LR flights between LAX and Amsterdam/Paris:
Delta's 777s feature the far more spacious nine abreast, 3-3-3 configurations with 18.5" wide seats instead of the apalling and hated ten abreast, 3-4-3 17" wide "child seats" found on its alliance partners, Air France and KLM's 777s...
...just sayin'
Yay PDL! I have been meaning to go diving there for a while now, and this flight makes it easier for me to do so
Only reason I'm excited about some of these new routes is for me to able to redeem Flying blue miles for them instead of the ridiculous skypesos
@Christian I don't exactly know the reason for the flight but there's a sizable community of people from Azores in the U.S. and there's also a U.S. Air Force base in Azores.
Awesome news about New York to Ponta Delgada! I want really badly to go to Azores!
What would be the reason for the Ponta Delgada flight? Seems like a very odd destination for DL to start service to.
I actually think these flight times from LAX to AMS and CDG are interesting, because they're the earliest transatlantic flights of the day from LAX. They get to Europe in time to go to work meetings for business travellers. I'm surprised with CDG though, since Norwegian has recently entered the market, making Delta the 5th airline to operate the route (AF, Norwegian, Air Tahiti Nui, XL Airways). That's a lot of seats between the two cities...
The only new flight with good times, at least for the departure, is Atlanta-Lisbon. The Los Angeles flights to Paris and Amsterdam are too early to actually sleep on the plane and the New York-Lagos flights just plane suck, especially if you pay for business-class expecting a good dinner.
@Dwondermeant: "Their horrible FF program and awful award availability and rip off redemptions combined with poorly trained agents & terrible customer service on the phone makes them a near non choice each and every time" Hummm, are you sure you are not talking about AA here?
I agree with everything you wrote about Delta but they are much better than AA on the above.
I don't understand why MSP never gets anything new. They had MSP-FCO last year and the planes was always packed. That flight was discontinued. We always have to connect in either AMS or CDG to get somewhere else in Europe. :(
what third DL dtw-cdg fligh? I only see one DL and one AF on that day in may
To me they aren't a part of any conversation in air travel
Their horrible FF program and awful award availability and rip off redemptions combined with poorly trained agents & terrible customer service on the phone makes them a near non choice each and every time
I like them for only one reason they siphon off traffic from the carriers I prefer to fly
making my preferred carriers nicer to fly
...
To me they aren't a part of any conversation in air travel
Their horrible FF program and awful award availability and rip off redemptions combined with poorly trained agents & terrible customer service on the phone makes them a near non choice each and every time
I like them for only one reason they siphon off traffic from the carriers I prefer to fly
making my preferred carriers nicer to fly
And I can't get over my haunting past with them with their 40 year old planes they kept repainting and their dishonest management and some employees that left much to be desired (rather than say how I really feel)
They may have improved in the air but the Delta back stabbing penny pinching management lives on
How do I say no thank you? Each and every time
I'd fly American over them and now they have become another Delta but at least I have some good memories for over 20 years to look back on
Me thinks you still haven't had your coffee yet.
"Since Delta gave up their Los Angeles to London flight to Virgin Atlantic, Paris and Amsterdam will be Delta’s only transatlantic flights out of LAX."
You stated in the previous section a new flight to Paris, you should amend it.
:)
"This will complement KLM’s service between Los Angeles and Paris, given that the two airlines have a transatlantic joint venture."
You mean Los Angeles and Amsterdam
Any word or expectation on whether the JFK - Ponta Delgada 757-200 will be lie flat up front?