Delta Air Lines, now America’s largest airline, announced 15 new international routes yesterday. 8 of the 15 routes are now planned to Africa – making Delta the leading carrier on U.S. to Africa routes. Utilizing Northwest’s Tokyo hub, Delta said it will add Tokyo flights from Atlanta, New York’s Kennedy Airport, and Salt Lake City. Delta does plan on having multiple frequencies on some of those routes, like Atlanta to Tokyo. A few European destinations were announced as well.
It’s no doubt that expansion is what the two carriers had hoped for when they merged. The new routes will ultimately allow the new Delta to dominate the U.S. international destinations. They have surpassed United on the east coast, as well as Continental, when it comes to routes to Asia. That’s huge. Delta will be reaping the benefits from Northwest’s Tokyo hub.
Anyways, here’s the official release from Delta:
Delta’s long-haul expansion for 2009 will be focused in three regions:
- Trans-Pacific: Delta plans to add three new nonstop trans-Pacific flights between the United States and Tokyo-Narita, Japan, including new nonstop flights from Salt Lake City, and New York-JFK, a second daily flight from Atlanta, and daily service connecting customers beyond Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
- Africa: Delta will expand its industry-leading position in Africa with new flights between Atlanta and Nairobi, Kenya and Cape Town, South Africa (via Dakar, Senegal); between Atlanta and Monrovia, Liberia; Abuja, Nigeria; Luanda, Angola; and Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (all via Sal Island, Cape Verde); and between New York-JFK and Lagos, Nigeria. Delta also will introduce its first daily nonstop service to South Africa with flights between Atlanta and Johannesburg.
- Europe/Middle East: Delta will expand its leading position across the Atlantic with the only nonstop flights operated to Gothenberg, Sweden and Valencia, Spain, both from New York-JFK. Delta also will expand its service at New York-JFK with nonstop service to Prague, Czech Republic and Zurich, Switzerland (seasonal); as well as the addition of a second nonstop flight between New York-JFK and Tel Aviv.
The new routes are expected to utilize Delta’s new Boeing 777LR aircraft and 767-400s taken from domestic service.
Delta also said that they had a 14.5% capacity increase between all of Northwest’s and Delta’s hubs. This, no doubt, boosts connecting traffic and is good for the combined airlines.
Image: flickr.com
