Increased corporate demand played a part in Delta Air Lines' move to increase service at Los Angeles International Airport, Delta VP of Los Angeles and West sales Scott Santoro told BTN.
First-quarter corporate demand originating at Los Angeles International Airport was up in the mid-single percentage digits year over year, Santoro said, and West Coast corporate demand for the period was up in low single-digit percentages.
Delta this month launched nonstop service between Los Angeles and each Hong Kong and Chicago O'Hare, plus recently announced new direct service to Vancouver, British Columbia, to start in November. It also began direct L.A.-Melbourne service in December 2025.
"Our corporate travel managers are key. They've been on me for probably 18 months to launch Chicago, to launch Hong Kong," Santoro said. "Chicago's an important market to us, but we had to get our transcon product right, [and] we had to get our Florida dots built. ... It was just trying to find the right balance of when, but Chicago's a top 20 market from Los Angeles, and that's why we launched it."
Santoro added that this summer Los Angeles is scheduled for 161 Delta departures a day compared with 151 in summer 2025. Los Angeles is preparing to host several FIFA World Cup matches along with Super Bowl LXI and the 2028 Summer Olympics, but the city's allure goes beyond big sporting events, he said.
"Corporate demand in and out of Los Angeles is huge," Santoro said. "We have aerospace, we have technology, we have entertainment and production. … Chicago's a huge place to film. With Vancouver, that's going to be a huge entertainment and production route for us, because there's a ton of films that are filmed up in Vancouver."