From the AJC:
Delta Air Lines plans to launch seven new routes from Atlanta to Africa next summer as part of a broader international route network.
Atlanta-based Delta also plans to add a second daily flight from Atlanta to Tokyo’s Narita Airport effective May 4. For that flight, it plans to use the Boeing 747-400 from merger partner Northwest Airlines. It is Delta’s first announced 747 flight out of Atlanta since the merger closed last month
Delta will repaint its first Northwest 747 to Delta colors in December at a facility in Victorville, Calif., and expects to repaint the entire Northwest fleet in the Delta livery within about two years.
Delta is also adding new routes from New York and Salt Lake City to its Tokyo hub from Northwest, and from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Some of the service will be operated under Northwest’s operating certificate.
“Delta continues to hone a distinct and strategic global network that capitalizes on new opportunities created by our recent merger with Northwest,” along with its New York and Atlanta hubs, said Delta executive vice president of network planning and revenue management Glen Hauenstein in a written statement.
The new Africa routes planned from Atlanta include flights to Johannesburg, South Africa; Abuja, Nigeria via Cape Verde; Luanda, Angola via Cape Verde; Maloba, Equatorial Guinea via Cape Verde; and Cape Town, South Africa via Dakar. Delta also will resume plans to fly to Nairobi, Kenya via Dakar, but will fly the route from Atlanta instead of New York, and it will begin flying from Atlanta to Monrovia, Liberia via Cape Verde as previously announced. All of the new Africa routes are expected to start in June.
The new routes, which are subject to government approval, are part of a broader international network that Delta has planned as a key benefit of its merger with Northwest. At the same time, Delta is slowing its international growth as economic problems spread around the world.
Delta will cut one of its three daily flights from Atlanta to London, and is changing a number of its international routes by cutting back to seasonal service or reducing the number of flights per week.
It also plans to stop flying a Detroit-Osaka, Japan route and is suspending its Detroit-Paris route in January for the winter season.
Delta also is cutting its total capacity in Cincinnati by about 12 percent, measured by available seat miles, as it restructures the hub. While Delta pledged not to eliminate hubs as a result of its merger with Northwest, many observers believe the airline may need to revisit that decision.
In Atlanta, Delta has said it does not plan to significantly grow its operations in its schedule for early next year.
Other new routes Delta plans to start next summer are New York to Gothenberg, Sweden; Prague, Czech Republic; Valencia, Spain and Zurich, Switzerland. Most of those routes are also subject to government approval.
As the airline ramps up the integration of the two carriers’ operations, it carrier is adding more flight capacity between Delta’s hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati New York and Salt Lake City and Northwest’s hubs in Minneapolis, Memphis and Detroit. Delta said it will have a full code-share partnership with Northwest for flights between Delta hubs effective Jan. 5, and will fully combine its flight schedules by next summer.
Delta Air Lines plans to launch seven new routes from Atlanta to Africa next summer as part of a broader international route network.
Atlanta-based Delta also plans to add a second daily flight from Atlanta to Tokyo’s Narita Airport effective May 4. For that flight, it plans to use the Boeing 747-400 from merger partner Northwest Airlines. It is Delta’s first announced 747 flight out of Atlanta since the merger closed last month
Delta will repaint its first Northwest 747 to Delta colors in December at a facility in Victorville, Calif., and expects to repaint the entire Northwest fleet in the Delta livery within about two years.
Delta is also adding new routes from New York and Salt Lake City to its Tokyo hub from Northwest, and from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Some of the service will be operated under Northwest’s operating certificate.
“Delta continues to hone a distinct and strategic global network that capitalizes on new opportunities created by our recent merger with Northwest,” along with its New York and Atlanta hubs, said Delta executive vice president of network planning and revenue management Glen Hauenstein in a written statement.
The new Africa routes planned from Atlanta include flights to Johannesburg, South Africa; Abuja, Nigeria via Cape Verde; Luanda, Angola via Cape Verde; Maloba, Equatorial Guinea via Cape Verde; and Cape Town, South Africa via Dakar. Delta also will resume plans to fly to Nairobi, Kenya via Dakar, but will fly the route from Atlanta instead of New York, and it will begin flying from Atlanta to Monrovia, Liberia via Cape Verde as previously announced. All of the new Africa routes are expected to start in June.
The new routes, which are subject to government approval, are part of a broader international network that Delta has planned as a key benefit of its merger with Northwest. At the same time, Delta is slowing its international growth as economic problems spread around the world.
Delta will cut one of its three daily flights from Atlanta to London, and is changing a number of its international routes by cutting back to seasonal service or reducing the number of flights per week.
It also plans to stop flying a Detroit-Osaka, Japan route and is suspending its Detroit-Paris route in January for the winter season.
Delta also is cutting its total capacity in Cincinnati by about 12 percent, measured by available seat miles, as it restructures the hub. While Delta pledged not to eliminate hubs as a result of its merger with Northwest, many observers believe the airline may need to revisit that decision.
In Atlanta, Delta has said it does not plan to significantly grow its operations in its schedule for early next year.
Other new routes Delta plans to start next summer are New York to Gothenberg, Sweden; Prague, Czech Republic; Valencia, Spain and Zurich, Switzerland. Most of those routes are also subject to government approval.
As the airline ramps up the integration of the two carriers’ operations, it carrier is adding more flight capacity between Delta’s hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati New York and Salt Lake City and Northwest’s hubs in Minneapolis, Memphis and Detroit. Delta said it will have a full code-share partnership with Northwest for flights between Delta hubs effective Jan. 5, and will fully combine its flight schedules by next summer.