Future Delta ULH & long-haul routes
 

Hi all,

This thread is for future ultra long-haul flight.

ATL:

I can see Delta to resumes nonstop Atlanta to Tel Aviv, Israel again, but they tried it before. They couldn't have enough profitable. Due to low demands.

I can see Delta will resumes nonstop Atlanta to Dubai again, but they pulled out of Dubai completely due to ME3.

How about ATL-Cairo, Egypt or Amman, Jordan once A350-900XWB is delivered.

You will see ATL-CPT again, but they pull out of Cape Town completely. Due to low demands.

SEA

As for SEA, You will see ultra long-haul nonstop from Seattle to Singapore or Vietnam or Australia and New Zealand, as well. When the A350-900XWB is delivered.

As for Bangkok, I don't think you seeing SEA-BKK nonstop. Due to political reason.

Let the speculation begin.

As the NRT hub winds down and the A350s come online, look for most of the one-stop connections to turn into nonstops ex-SEA and LAX.

In terms of Europe and the ME, I could see DL moving into more smaller European cities. I don't see them expanding back into the Middle East. There's simply no way for them to compete with the ME3 on these routes.

I agree, I do not see DL starting SEA-BKK. I think they pulled NRT-BKK, just like UA because the flt was not profitable. What is this political reason you speak of? :confused:

ATL-ATL around the globe seasonally in December. 'The Medallion Re-Qualification Flight' It will use a modified CRJ-200 with an air to air refueling probe.

LOL :D

Wouldn't ATL-ATL earn 0 MQMs? :p

Permanent daily service to TXL/ZRH/PRG from anywhere would be helpful.

Only if it's a direct flight with the same flight numbers on all segments.

I don't expect these new aircraft to be used Trans-Atlantic (Although I'd love them to appear from time to time on SEA-CDG/AMS as part of aircraft rotation).
Trans-Pacific, I could see possibilities for:
SEA-SIN
SEA-HKG (freeing up 2 A330 to be used elsewhere)
DTW-HKG

Trans-Atlantic you might some new stuff open up do to aircraft switches:
Some current Trans-Pacifics move from A330 to A350
Those new A330 get deployed on some existing B767 Trans-Atlantics
Some of those B767s might be used to open new service (I could see TXL and ZRH as Widget has mentioned)

Wonder if they would give XXX - AKL a shot. The problem for DL is there isn't a logical XXX, SEA is out of the way, ATL doesn't get any west coast traffic, maybe LAX if they want to go head to head with AA and NZ on the route or SLC if they want it to be virtually all connecting passengers.

I'm not smart enough to speculate about what routes DL may or may not start up, but I would love to have a nonstop from the US to SIN.

^^^ It'd be great to eliminate AMS/CDG from these routes.

If they have the range I would think they would add routes from JFK. From my own anecdotal experience, they are losing pax to HKG that won't go through SEA.

Not sure that anyone would take DL JFK-HKG when they could take the superior CX flights instead.

ATL/DTW-DEL/BOM

Delta pulled out of the BOM route a couple years ago because they said they couldn't compete with ME3. United seems to keep their non-stop flights full going both directions. If you can't make money with full planes, you can't make money. Hopefully the economics of the 350 can make direct access to India on DAL a reality.

But I heard that route will be a westerly route - so darkness the entire way.

I wish they would have made it easterly to see two sunrises and sunsets and some scenery as well. :(

I could see SEA - India routes being viable. There is strong local demand for that, plus they could pick up connecting traffic from the Western US.

That flight gets real fun after about the 11th hour when the lav becomes inoperable.

For DL, LAX may be the best of all possible gateways to AKL.

I'm not convinced that AA will keep LAX-AKL now that the DOT has killed the mooted AA-QF antitrust-immunized revenue sharing JV. Whether DL starts and gives them a push, waits for AA to quit, or doesn't begin xxx-AKL at all isn't something that's obvious, IMHO. U.S.-AKL is pretty thin, still, for a route that distance.

I think we should start seeing flights late next week from BNIP to all of the Delta (cargo) hubs . . . . . ;)













http://www.gcmap.com/airport/BINP





Merry Christmas, Scotty! :)

I think there are enough people who will fly DL just for the miles/credits towards status. But combining that with having to fly to SEA and change there? Not so much.

People fly UA on EWR-HKG (or ORD-HKG), which pretty much proves loyalists would fly DL on that route too.

I don't think the yields to India were that great to begin with. Now with the ME3 totally solidified there I highly doubt you'll see DL return to India any time soon.

Do you have any information that is informing these or is this just like your personal wishlist?

Is there any talk of DL deferring their A350 orders and moving up their 787 orders after Jan 20, 2017? :D

LAX - ATL on AA
 

American primarily flies this route to cater to local o/d demand. They did not in any way start this route in order to feed passengers to QF or to their once a day routes to the South Pacific. While they probably do carry some of those passengers, it's not enough to fill 3 flights a day. Indeed, a good friend of mine in LA used the flight for 6 months in 2015 to commute to ATL every week for work. His client was in ATL and he flew out every Sunday and returned every Thursday in F. Said most of the people were the same every week up front and he started to recognize the crews and some of the other pax by face. Sure, it's anecdotal, but AA is trying to build up their LAX presence for biz pax like my friend, not just connectors to their long haul flights or their partner carriers. Again, those people will be on the plane for sure, but they're not the prime motivation for the flight.

Or . . . . Maybe they can get a deal on the half built Air Force One - remove all of the gold wallpaper and trimmings, and convert it to Delta colors! :D

The post I was replying to was a humorous implication of ATL-ATL non-stop with midair refueling ;)

That's kind of OP's thing.

Would Delta's JV with VA cover a XXX-AKL?

Sorry, jasoncrh. That was my typo: I meant LAX-AKL on AA.

That is a good question. I don't know that the scope of the approved JV would permit VA to codeshare on a Delta-operated USA-AKL. A check of contemporary press releases and the DOT docket didn't answer that in the time I am willing to invest.:D

The thing about flying to India with the ME3 is that you can get to the city you are going to in India connecting in the Middle East instead of in India, which is a huge plus. There are a lot of huge cities in India that get business/family/tourism traffic that aren't DEL/BOM and connecting there is awful if you want to get to JAI/BLR/MAA/HYD/CCU/etc.

Actually, it's just for my personal wishlist. I am talking about future ULH flight.

lol
 

ah yes, much more debatable. tbd!

+1. How much do you really want those MQMs haha?

Part of the reason United does well on their Indian flights is because of the strong O&D from NY. ATL doesn't have this O&D, but DL could definitely get enough connecting passengers. DL could really put pressure on QR out of ATL if they started these flights. There isn't too much ATL traffic to secondary Indian/SE Asian cities, so BOM & DEL traffic is most likely supporting QR's flight. DTW is also a good city for Indian flights.

Someone else mentioned JFK-HKG. I doubt this route will happen soon. I think HND/NRT, PVG, and PEK (maybe ICN as well if a JV with KE happens) will all see service from JFK first, and I don't think those are likely at the moment.

SEA-SIN would be smart if they are actually going to fully commit to SEA. ATL-TLV might also make sense, as UA is currently dominating USA-TLV traffic, and there is a fair amount of TLV-Florida traffic.

Anyone for SEA-TPE?

Do we actually know that UA does well on their Indian flights? And, given DL's revenue premium, what might be good for UA may not make the cut for DL.

And El Al will be starting service ex-MIA next year, leaving DL scrambling for crumbs if they started ATL-TLV.

The bigger issue is that it's incredibly hard for DL or virtually any carrier to compete with the ME3 on price. The ME3 clearly don't care that much about money losing routes. And considering they pretty much fly nothing but 777, A380, A350 they just flood the market with cheap seats. And they have the super luxury suites for high rollers.

Instead of seeing DL chasing QR off ATL/DOH, you'd probably see QR offering $500 Y seats, $1.5K J and $3K F seats ATL/India

JFK - ZRH is permanent, (almost) daily service. There are a few Tuesdays and Wednesdays this winter that Delta's not flying it.