Delta to offer one-off non-stop Las Vegas-Shanghai flights

Following American Airlines’ announcement back in August that it would offer a temporary non-stop service between Las Vegas and Tokyo in January, rival carrier Delta Air Lines has followed suit with a one-off non-stop Las Vegas-Shanghai service set to take place on January 7 and 12 next year.

Both the Delta and American Airlines services are being launched in order to meet increased demand surrounding the International Consumer Electronics Show, which will run from January 8-11, 2019 in Las Vegas.

For these one-off flights, Delta will divert its currently non-stop Atlanta-Shanghai flights – launched in July this year – through Las Vegas before continuing on to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The one-stop flights will share the same flight numbers (DL185/DL186) as the airline’s existing daily Atlanta-Shanghai service.

As with the current Atlanta-Shanghai flights, the Las Vegas service will also be flown by Delta’s Boeing 777-200LR aircraft. It’s worth noting that while the airline’s 10 777-200LRs are all set to undergo a retrofit to include the new business class Delta One Suites, these refurbishments don’t look as though they will be available by the time these one-off flights take place.

Instead, passengers will continue to have available the aircraft’s 37 lie-flat Delta One seats in business class – laid out in a 1-2-1 herringbone configuration – along with 36 Delta Comfort+ (extra legroom economy) and 218 Main Cabin (economy) seats.

The one-off Las Vegas-Shanghai flights join similar services operated by Delta between Las Vegas and Seoul Incheon as well as Tokyo Narita. This will be the seventh consecutive year Delta has offered temporary flights to and from Tokyo surrounding the conference, and the second consecutive year to and from Seoul.

Korean Air, which entered into a joint-partnership agreement with Delta earlier this year, also operates a daily year-round service between Seoul and Las Vegas.