Less than a week after Atlanta airport officials said they would vie for new air service to India and China, Delta Air Lines Inc. has announced plans for better access to both countries through other hubs.
The airline, which operates the largest single hub in the world in Atlanta, said Monday it would begin service from Los Angeles to Beijing in December ahead of next Chinese New Year, supplementing its existing service to Shanghai from the California city launched last year.
It also announced a codeshare agreement with India’s Jet Airways through its trans-Atlantic joint venture with the Dutch airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
That means that when Jet Airways starts new service to Amsterdam from Mumbai and Delhi on March 27, U.S. travelers will be able to book flights through Schiphol Airport as if they were traveling on Delta. Beyond those two cities, they’ll also be able to make bookings to 48 other Indian cities served by Jet, all on one ticket that accrues SkyMiles.
“With more than 11,000 customers flying between the U.S. and India each day, our partnership with Jet Airways will enable us to meet the high demand for flights between the United States and the Indian sub-continent,” Nat Pieper, Delta’s senior vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in a release.
The move comes as two other airlines with access to India plan to launch nonstop flights to Atlanta this spring: Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways.
Travelers on Jet Airways, which is also launching Toronto-Amsterdam service, can book the same one-stop service to 11 U.S. destinations served by Delta and KLM, though it’s unclear whether Atlanta is included. Emails seeking clarification on this point were not immediately returned.
