Bankrupt Delta Air Lines today laid out plans for a significant expansion of its transatlantic network, the latest development in a clear trend among major U.S. carriers to divert resources from the domestic market to more lucrative international routes. Delta also confirmed plans to detail by next year's first quarter a revamped premium-class product on its international fleet.
In addition to previously announced nonstop flights to Berlin, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf and Tel Aviv--each scheduled for launch next spring--Delta next May plans to begin nonstop flights from Atlanta to Athens, Edinburgh and Nice, followed in June by nonstop flights to Venice. From New York JFK, Delta in May will begin nonstop service to Budapest, Dublin/Shannon and Manchester. It also intends to offer New York JFK-Kiev flights, subject to government approval.
Delta also announced seasonal capacity increases between Atlanta and Ireland, and between New York and Rome. All told, Delta claimed it would become "the world's largest airline across the Atlantic."
It also has scheduled new services to Chennai in India, Moscow and various markets in Latin America and the Caribbean. "With next summer's additions, Delta will serve 66 international destinations in 40 countries from Atlanta, making Delta's Atlanta hub the third-largest international gateway in North America," said Glen Hauenstein, executive vice president and chief of network and revenue management. "Delta's extensive widebody fleet will permit rapid growth from both [Atlanta and New York JFK] hubs as we begin to reconfigure domestic widebodies to international service."
The airline said the reconfiguration would include updated interiors on long-haul aircraft, notably "a refreshed BusinessElite product and the introduction of Delta's improved domestic coach-class cabin on international routes."
Details of a revamped BusinessElite product are forthcoming--expected by first-quarter 2006--according to a Delta spokesman. Chief marketing officer Paul Matsen last year told reporters that Delta was developing "the next BusinessElite," which he said likely would include lie-flat sleeper seats
(BTN, Sept. 20, 2004).
As for coach-class improvements on international flights, Delta said it would install leather seats, new lighting and brighter interiors, as it has on many aircraft now serving domestic routes.
As it refocuses on higher-yielding international routes, Delta previously communicated its intentions to reduce domestic capacity by as much as 20 percent over the next two years
(BTN, Oct. 3).