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Delta's New Routes to Focus on Asia, Europe
Trevor Williams
Atlanta - 10.22.09
Trevor Williams
A small Delta plane lands at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Delta Air Lines Inc. on Oct. 20 announced its first consolidated route schedule since merging with Northwest Airlines Corp., revealing strengthened Asia and Europe connections through hubs outside Atlanta. 

The new routes represent a reallocation of existing capacity. Delta said it will maintain international cuts it announced in June in response to weakened global demand.

Atlanta, Delta's largest hub, will begin flights to just one new destination next June. The flight to Accra, Ghana, will begin three times weekly on June 1, augmenting an existing Accra flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, pending government approval. During the summer, Delta will add a thrice-weekly flight from Atlanta to Tokyo-Narita to complement existing daily service there.

Tokyo-Narita, a former Northwest stronghold, is now Delta's main intra-Asia hub, but the airline made it clear in a news release that its main "U.S.-to-Asia gateways" will now be Detroit and Seattle.

From Northwest's former hub in Detroit, Delta will establish new service to Hong Kong and upgrade its service to Shanghai, China, from five times weekly to daily.

Detroit will also get a five-times-weekly route to Seoul-Incheon, South Korea. Delta phased out its routes from Atlanta to Shanghai and Seoul in September. 

Delta's bid for an Atlanta connection to China's capital fizzled in 2007, but a new route from Seattle will give the airline's customers a connection to Beijing beginning on June 4. Seattle will also get a daily flight to Osaka, Japan. 

The Asian expansion from Seattle is driven by Delta's partnership with Alaska Air Group.  The Beijing and Osaka flights will be timed with "Delta and Alaska's 267 combined daily departures to 64 destinations from Seattle-Tacoma," the news release said. A daily flight from Seattle to Amsterdam, Netherlands, will be upgraded to 10 times per week starting June 1.

New routes from Delta's New York mostly concentrate on Europe. Flights to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Stockholm, Sweden, will begin May 27, the only nonstop service from JFK to both of those cities.  An existing Tel Aviv, Israel, route will upgrade to a larger plane.  Beginning June 1, one-stop service with a Boeing 757-200 between JFK and Abuja, Nigeria, will be upgraded to nonstop service operated with a Boeing 767-300. 

Delta reiterated its commitment to Africa. The airline "intends to serve as many as 10 African destinations next summer, including flights to Malabo, Equitorial Guinea; Monrovia, Liberia; Nairobi, Kenya; and Luanda, Angola, each of which are pending foreign and government approvals," according to the release. 

Delta had to cancel the Atlanta-Nairobi flight in June the night before its launch when the Transportation Security Administration denied approval, citing "a credible threat to civil aviation in East Africa."  A JFK-Monrovia flight set to begin June 8 was also denied approval.  TSA officials said Liberia's main airport failed to meet international security standards. 

For more information, visit www.delta.com. 

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