Next year, Delta will return to London's Gatwick Airport for the first time in nearly a decade, with service from Boston and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Though Gatwick was Delta's first transatlantic destination more than 40 years ago, the carrier has not served the secondary London airport since 2012. Delta and partner Virgin Atlantic will operate the new routes and will announce the schedules this year, according to Delta.
This week, Delta also upgraded its service between Boston and London Heathrow to Airbus A330-200 aircraft. It already uses the aircraft on JFK-Heathrow routes. In November, Delta will upgrade again to refurbished Boeing 767-400s on both those routes, which then will offer Delta One, Delta Premium Select, Delta Comfort Plus and the main cabin.
Both the new and the upgauged service are part of Delta's transatlantic growth plans. Over the next several months it will increase service between JFK and each Tel Aviv, Paris and Amsterdam, and on May 23, it begins seasonal service from Boston to each Lisbon and Edinburgh. Virgin Atlantic, meanwhile, will begin service from Heathrow to Tel Aviv on Sept. 25 and to Sao Paulo next year.
Delta/Korean Partnership Adds Service
On April 1, Delta began service between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Seoul, as well as between Seattle and Osaka, Japan. Additionally, Korean Air will begin service between Boston and Seoul on April 12. Those three flights are the first additions to the carriers' partnership since launching their joint venture last year.