DL to start IND-CDG
 

Starts spring 2018. Just announced via the IND Airport's Facebook live feed and Twitter:
Full detail here: http://news.delta.com/delta-launch-n...nning-may-2018

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com...a-paris-flight

Man, this has been rumored for weeks, but I never believed it. On a 767 too. Seems like a lot of seats in a small market. Presumably IND threw quite a few incentives at them.

Taxpayers will help subsidize the flight. Holcomb is offering Delta up to $5.5 million in conditional IEDC incentives over two years. The incentives will be awarded based on the number of passengers served by the route, the IEDC said in a statement.

As an IND, DM-based flyer I'm psyched to see this news. Its great for the city, great for the region, and I hope with time the city and region will be able to support this flight enough for it to be a non-subsidized daily route. Kudos to the state and to Mario Rodriguez and the IND team.

My only gripe is just that the timing will not allow for good connections to a number of East African markets if you're hoping to catch a KL flight. AF serves NBO seasonally and that's about it, so it leaves a bit to be desired in that sense, but my guess is there are many for whom this will be very convenient and quite welcome.

Kudos and great job, DL, for investing in the IND market once again. Hopefully there are other routes to come on the heels of this announcement and what has been a few years of stagnancy at IND.

Ironic that everyone was saying just weeks ago that DL wouldn't announce such a route...

This is great news (flight starts: May 24, 2018):

Items from Indystar:

1. ~310 passengers/day travel to transatlantic destinations out of IND
2. $5.5 million incentives to DL over two years
3. Currently IND only has these two international routes: CUN, YYZ

It's official!!!

http://news.delta.com/delta-launch-n...nning-may-2018

Actually it will be operated on a 767-300ER aircraft.

What a loss for MCO!

For NBO specifically it connects pretty well with KQ. Their flight to NBO leaves at 10:55am, so it makes a nice 2:10 connection. The AF flight leaves around 9pm.

767 is the surprising bit to me. Especially with the 757 being freed up when PHL - LHR ends.

Seems a bit random too imo, is there a big french connection with IND? I could've "believed" LHR a bit more, or maybe even LHR or AMS for onward purposes.

I was thinking exactly the same thing with the incentives.

What's next? Omaha?

That's a bit long for a 757 if they really want to succeed at operating non-stop into winter winds.

CDG-IND = 4,191sm

TXL-EWR = 3,980sm and all sorts of Newfoundland fuel stops for United when it was a 757.

With the 757 unable to handle the range, I would suspect that IND is paying for the necessary upgauge with a frequency reduction.

Anyone with a pulse on the market - is the lack of frequency going to deter business flyers?

Airways is saying the service will be daily. The DL press release doesn't actually confirm that, but also doesn't indicate days of service if less-than-daily.

Maybe Eli Lilly execs (plus Cummins just down the road in Columbus) is enough to warrant some predictable J class sales? Still, seems like a daily CR7 IND-CVG that was timed to/from their Paris service would be a reasonable offering (though they probably go via DTW now....)

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com...a-paris-flight

The new flights are expected to begin May 24, and run at least three times per week. During peak summer season, officials say the route will go back-and-forth daily.

Maybe this source has a better handle on the terms of the IEDC incentives.

I think most folks around here were expecting an LHR or MAN flight. Rolls-Royce is big here in Indy, with their headquarters in Derby. The RR engines made in Indy aren't destined for Toulouse.
I bet CDG was a second choice, but I won't complain.
Actually yes...yes I will complain.
Connect in CDG or ATL? I'll take ATL.

Unless this flight is a premonition of another large business decision with Lilly, Rolls, or....Formula 1??

Many Big shots from Lilly were at the announcement, if that is an indication of anything. I don't know of any of the other exact companies/groups that were in attendance.

Great addition. I am hearing this will be daily for at least the summer, but there has been no official word on what will happen in the winter (I suspect 4x-5x weekly). Someone else said that the IND-Europe market is about 310 PDEW, meaning DL needs to capture about half of that to average a load factor around 75% for a 763. That PDEW number will definitely increase with the launch of the nonstop, so I am guessing DL will eventually want ~40% of whatever the new IND-Europe market is. They could also get a few passengers heading to Africa. I don't think the IND-Africa market is large, but NBO, CAI, ABJ, and a few other destinations have good connecting times.

People were expecting IND-MAN?! :confused:

Also worth noting that WOW has added DTW, CVG and even STL. No one from Eli Lilly is gonna fly WOW if they were to somehow decide in 3X weekly summer service to IND, but Delta and the other Legacies need to be responding to the sorts of incursions Norwegian and WOW are doing. We cheap folk in the back of the DL flights may be small margin, but we do help cover the trip costs so the pointy end is profitable.

Any idea what happens to CVG-CDG?
 

Is this the next step in reducing flights into CVG?

Doubtful. The CVG-CDG flight runs year-round, even on Saturdays. It stands on its own, and probably doesn't see much traffic from IND.

Unfortunately not, the 757 who cannot have enough range to reaching into Europe. The 767-300ER aircraft is a right choice. They do have more range and more capabilities.

Good for my home town but unlikely I will be flying it as I am typically on a OW airline. My only hope is that there might be some better pricing to the EU on other carriers.

People on this board really seem ready to make connections between two companies / offices, as if they themselves could drive demand for an entire 767 operating multiple times a week to an airport with nothing else to offer :rolleyes:

It was going to be CDG or AMS, that's where SkyTeam can connect passengers. I'm sure the 10 people per week that want to go IND-MAN would appreciate otherwise, but CDG is what gets pax to all of Europe from IND, which is barely a big enough market as a whole to justify this flight.

I'm sure they'll have no problem selling some J seats, but it will remain to be seen how many people will choose to connect in CDG instead of hopping over to ATL or elsewhere.

The flight is to far for a 757 to operate on a reliable basis. Great circle route is over 3600 miles. With normal flight planning restrictions your looking at 3800 miles. The route is longer than RDU-CDG which did not work out with the 757.

Point taken on 757 for IND, though RDU - CDG did work they just upgauged for the summer and unless something changed they are going back to the 757 at the end of the S17 schedule

paging GRALISTAIR ... :D

I know the airport wanted London but I think Delta was the only one they could get to play...and therefore I am not surprised it is CDG.

IND is a great airport. I've been planning to maybe to a France trip in 2019, and I'd much rather do the connection in IND than MSP or ATL.

Don't worry, that's BA's next announcement :).

Purdue and other nearby major research universities will contribute some TATL demand, but probably TPAC would matter more to them.

We will see what happens. Keep eye on it.

They could also capture passengers headed to India, especially to BLR since this will be the only one-stop option to that city. I can see an increased demand for travel to BLR with Infosys being based there and opening up a tech hub in Indy.

CDG actually has some pretty good connections to airports such as MAN, NCL, EDI and ABZ. The big irritant with CDG is having to go back through security in T2E after arriving from the USA. The onward gates to the UK destinations tend to be bus gates which are reached by a short walk beyond security and going down an escalator.

Interestingly, I flew WAW-CDG-IAD on Monday; the WAW security operation was slipshod, but we were able to get from CDG T2F to T2E, concourse K, by only having to stop at EU exit passport control, with no further security check (other than the secondary inspection at the gate, which I got roped into).

For people in Illinois cities such as Champaign-Urbana, Decatur, or even Bloomington-Normal, this may become the most convenient flight to Europe. Bloomington is closer to O'Hare, but with much more variable traffic congestion.

IND catches quite a number of passengers from central and east central Illinois already. But, of course, those that don't explore when booking will still have to find out about the flight.

Sort of a random question on this topic. I've noticed SC's that are not hubs but have an international flight--PHL comes to mind--generally seem to have upgraded food offerings, etc. Anyone know if this is standard practice for clubs with TATL or TPAC service? Curious if we may be seeing some upgrades in this regard at the IND club.

The inaugural flight is tomorrow, inbound is from ATL. That puts IND at 15 nonstop destinations (2 int'l) on Delta, and IND will soon see increased service to JFK, ATL, and SEA over the summer. Hopefully IND will get more service in the future!