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Delta Air Lines is updating its winter schedule. Yesterday, I wrote about how the carrier is adding 10 seasonal routes to the Caribbean and Latin America including two new destinations: Saint Vincent’s Argyle International Airport (SVD) and Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport (GND). Now, it looks like Delta is shaking up its flights to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) by ditching its seasonal service from Orlando International Airport (MCO) and adding a second-daily flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). It also appears that Virgin Atlantic is dropping its flights between London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).
This is an interesting change as Delta decreased its flying between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and London Heathrow Airport (LHR) from 7x to 3x weekly. Those 4x weekly flights shifted to Orlando International Airport (MCO) where Delta launched seasonal service on October 26th. Those winter flights were operated with its newest Airbus A330-900neo aircraft with 29 Delta One® Suites, 28 Delta Premium Select, 56 Delta Comfort+, and 226 Main Cabin seats. Delta looked to be continuing to expand its Europe offerings from Florida and this route complemented Delta’s service to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) from both Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Tampa International Airport (TPA) (more here). These flights were also additive to what Delta’s partner, Virgin Atlantic, offered from Orlando.
This coming winter it looks like Virgin Atlantic is dropping its service between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and London Heathrow Airport (LHR). Delta will operate the route 14x weekly and this is likely in direct response to plans that Alaska Airlines has for its own upcoming flights to Europe (these have been discussed without destinations or schedules confirmed). Virgin Atlantic began flying to Seattle in March 2017.
Delta will continue to also fly to/from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and:
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- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
- Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW)
- Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP)
- New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
- Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
Anthony’s Take: This seems like a bad idea. Winter is a slow time for flights from the US to the UK and Europe. Running this route 2x daily seems like it will have lots of open seats (especially with the current economic uncertainty). Florida is also popular in winter, but I guess Delta wants to make a go at Alaska and Virgin already has a presence in Orlando (where Delta was running one of its few transatlantic flights that did not touch a hub.
(Featured Image Credit: Delta Air Lines.)
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5 comments
What a ridiculous article. Delta and Virgin have a joint venture agreement in place so every Virgin flight to London is a Delta flight and vice versa. It doesn’t matter who operates the flight, they share the revenue. Delta and Virgin have therefore on multiple occasions swapped flights.
I’d argue that what metal you fly on makes a difference. United and Lufthansa have a JV, but the experience is different on each carrier.
I believe Delta has cancelled LAX to LHR a year ago?
You’re correct. I forgot it was dropped. Thanks!
Delta is more interested in trying to injure Alaska than doing good things for themselves. That’s stupid and shortsighted but not all that surprising since Delta can be incredibly vicious to any airline they feel is thwarting them.