Bom dia, Delta! Azores service launches Summer 2018

Delta’s newest destination is the Azores. The carrier will offer summer seasonal service in 2018 between JFK and Ponta Delgado (PDL), with flights 5x weekly starting on 24 May. This news comes as part of another round of route announcements for the company’s transatlantic portfolio.

Service between the US and Azores is limited, with Azores Airlines (formerly SATA) offering flights to New England and seasonal west coast trips. Delta’s add opens up the NYC market and potentially increases US point-of-sale traffic to the islands.

Also included are new flights between Los Angeles and Delta’s partner hubs at Amsterdam and Paris-CDG. That service augments existing KLM and Air France flights on the routes. Delta will fly a 777-200LR to to Amsterdam thrice weekly and to Paris on the other four days. Based on flight schedule times it appears the aircraft will continue to or from Australia. The Delta flight will leave Los Angeles at noon, making it the earliest of the partners’ operations to Europe and provide access to an earlier bank of onward connections or to morning meetings in the destination cities. The new Los Angeles service launches on 16 June 2018.

Delta is also adding an earlier flight from Detroit to Paris. Similar to the new Los Angeles service the new Detroit flight is on the early side, scheduled to arrive in Paris at 6am. The additional service launches on 16 May 2018.

Read More: Quick Take: Delta Adds Paris-Indianapolis service

The company also used the release to reiterate other new transatlantic services, including flights between Orlando and Amsterdam, Indianapolis and Paris, & JFK and Lagos.

Delta is also upgrading service into London from JFK, switching from 767s to A330s. The A330s are generally seen by passengers as delivering a better product in the DeltaOne business class cabin and the coach offering is similar. The company has not loaded the schedule change into its distribution and sales systems yet.