Delta Air Lines is adding new non-stop services to four Asian cities from its primary US gateways in Detroit and Seattle in June 2010.
From Detroit, the airline will introduce five-times-weekly flights to Seoul-Incheon and to Hongkong using a Boeing 767-300 aircraft. The two new non-stop international routes will take off on June 1 and June 2 next year. Detroit is a major hub for travellers flying between the US East Coast and Asia, offering 477 peak-day departures to more than 130 non-stop destinations.
From Seattle, Delta's new non-stop flights to Beijing will begin on June 4 with a five-times-weekly schedule, while the new non-stop daily flight between Seattle and Osaka will kick off on June 7. Delta will deploy Boeing 777-200 jets on both international routes. Both Beijing and Osaka services will be timed for convenient connections with Delta's and its partner Alaska Air Group's 267 combined daily departures to 64 destinations from Seattle/Tacoma. The two airlines provide reciprocal codeshare, lounge and frequent flyer benefits to make it easier for passengers to connect between the airlines' domestic and international networks at Seattle.
These four new long-haul, non-stop services on Delta's Trans-Pacific routes is only part of the airline's first fully consolidated international flight schedule published following its merger with Northwest, allowing the airline to re-allocate existing capacity to new routes. Timed to begin in the summer of 2010, Delta's schedule enhancements will also cover service changes in its Trans-Atlantic and Africa routes. The changes expanded services to 17 cities worldwide.
Aside from new routes, the airline will also increase frequencies on profitable routes, while maintaining many of the international route reductions it announced this year in response to decreased global demand.
"No other airline has the alliance partners, fleet flexibility or network breadth to consistently deliver new routes for customers while at the same time being responsible in managing capacity in the face of a global economic recession," airline executive vice-president Glen Hauenstein said in a press statement.
In Asia, Delta's expanded frequencies on certain routes are as follows:
- Detroit-Shanghia service will grow flights to seven times weekly to five times weekly
- Tokyo Narita to New York JFK will expand capacity with the upgrade of Boeing 777-200 to 747-400 aircraft
- Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles will increase flights to 11 flights weekly from seven times weekly
For more information on Delta, go to www.delta.com
Gigi Onag
