Delta Is Cutting Flights From These 7 Major Cities, as of April 1
The carrier is shuffling its upcoming schedule around and dropping some long-haul flights.
No matter where you live, there's a decent chance you've flown with Delta when taking to the skies. Pre-pandemic, the airline was ranked the second largest in the world in terms of revenue passenger-kilometers—or the total distance flown by the passengers on the carrier for the year—as of 2019, travel news outlet The Points Guy reported. But as the industry struggles to cope with lingering issues related to COVID-19, the company has joined other airlines in making changes to its schedule that can affect specific markets. As a result, Delta Air Lines has announced it will be cutting flights from seven major cities in the coming months. Read on to see if your travel plans could be affected by the latest modifications.
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Delta is cutting flights from its transpacific routes, affecting seven major cities.
In its most recent set of changes to its schedule, Delta has announced that it will be cutting flights from its transpacific routes in the coming weeks, Simple Flying reports. Beginning in April, Seattle will see flights to Seoul reduced to four weekly flights through May. Likewise, Atlanta will see its weekly flights to the South Korean capital cut back to three per week in May before adding a fourth flight in June. And Detroit will also see its flights to Seoul reduced to three weekly departures in May, with a fifth flight to be added in June and a sixth in July.
The latest changes also show that the carrier will not be reviving flights it has cut from other major cities. As a result, service from Honolulu, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Portland to Tokyo will stay grounded through the end of October. Portland and Minneapolis also won't see flights to Seoul resume until mid-September and October, respectively, Simple Flying reports.
COVID-related travel restrictions in Asia have reduced demand for flights.
Delta's decision to cut a number of its transpacific flights in the coming months comes as travel restrictions for certain countries are set to remain in place and decrease tourism demand. "Given the strict travel restrictions that bar most foreigners from entering Japan without quarantine or for essential travel, it makes sense for Delta to keep its operations limited if it is not at risk of losing slots," Simple Flying explains. "While it has received pressure to reopen, Japan has yet to formally announce an outline of reopening."
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Delta also recently announced it would be scaling back flights on some transatlantic routes as well.
This isn't the only recent example of Delta paring back its departures. Last week, the airline announced changes to its schedule that would also affect its transatlantic flights in the coming months, Simple Flying reported. As of May 1, flights from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to Athens, Greece, will be reduced from 11 weekly departures to one flight a day. The airline will also cut back service from JFK to Milan Malpensa Airport, paring its weekly service from 14 departures to 12.
The changes also showed that the airline was holding off on bringing back certain flights. The resumption of service to Lagos from New York has been pushed back to May 5. And flights from Atlanta to Johannesburg will remain at their reduced three departures through May.
The airline is also adding more departures in anticipation of a summer tourism bump.
But the airline's recent schedule changes also show a bit of optimism from the company. The carrier also announced it would add more departures and beef up weekly service in some markets as it expects increased demand for summer travel to popular European destinations amid reduced travel restrictions. Beginning as early as April, Delta will add or increase flights from Boston and Minneapolis to Amsterdam. In addition, both cities plus Detroit and Atlanta will see the number of flights to London Heathrow Airport increase in the coming months, while Seattle will see its service to the U.K. destination resume on May 5.
Salt Lake City will see extra flights to Paris as a part of the schedule shuffle, increasing from four weekly departures to daily flights beginning April 10. Likewise, New York will see flights added, with increased departures to Rome and Brussels starting May 5, daily service to Lisbon beginning April 10, and additional flights to Edinburgh beginning daily service as of May 26. Detroit will also see a bump up in flights to Europe, with additional flights to Munich and Frankfurt starting on May 5 and 6, respectively.
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