On October 27, northern airlines will switch to winter schedules based on IATA slot seasons. On and around that date, airlines globally will begin hundreds of new or winter seasonal services, though there won’t be as many as summer.
Delta Air Lines, the world’s second-largest operator, is no exception. By the end of the month, three long-haul routes will take off, one new and two resumptions. Subject to having good celebratory images, I’m sure they’ll make my weekly jam-packed routes article!
A look at the coming routes
They are summarized below. Until now, Orlando to London has not had non-stop flights by a US carrier. That is no surprise: most passengers are from the UK, with UK operators dominating that country’s point of sale.
How could an American operator compete? They could simply funnel passengers through their hubs, a far less risky prospect. Delta’s coming service would not be happening but for its close partner Virgin Atlantic.
Notice the times of Orlando-London Heathrow, with UK-bound flights leaving as late as 00:50. Ouch. The operating aircraft will operate xxx-London Heathrow-Orlando-London Heathrow-xxx.
According to Cirium, it is, unsurprisingly, the latest (or earliest, depending on your perspective) US to London winter departure (other carriers leave later in summer). However, Delta’s schedule will change to a pre-midnight take-off in early November, only to revert in mid-March.
| Route | Start date | Flights | Aircraft | Times to Europe (local)* | Times from Europe (local)** | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando-Amsterdam | October 26 | Daily | A330-300, A330neo (January and February) | DL90, 20:40-10:30+1 | DL91, 12:45-18:00 | Winter seasonal service. Delta last flew it until the end of March 2024. It will feed transatlantic joint venture partner and fellow SkyTeam member KLM’s Schiphol hub |
| Tampa-Amsterdam | October 26 | Daily | A330-300 | DL236, 21:05-10:55+1 | DL237, 12:35-17:55 | Returning. Delta last served it at the end of October 2019. It will feed transatlantic joint venture partner and fellow SkyTeam member KLM’s Schiphol hub |
| Orlando-London Heathrow | October 27 | Four times weekly | A330neo | DL22, 00:20-12:40; 00:50-1310 | DL23, 15:50-22:00 | This is a brand-new route. It will coexist with Virgin Atlantic’s daily winter Orlando-London Heathrow offering (double daily in the summer). Delta owns part of Virgin, and the pair are transatlantic joint venture partners and SkyTeam carriers. |
Delta will fly to 16 European airports
This winter, Delta will serve 16 European airports with 49 regularly served non-stop routes (excluding Las Vegas charters for the Consumer Electronics Show).
Image: GCMap
Some airports, such as Athens, Brussels, Edinburgh, and Venice, will not be served for the entire northern aviation winter (October 27-March 29). Generally, flights will not operate for most of January or February, the latter being one of the worst-performing months for demand.
According to Delta’s schedule submission to Cirium, it plans 7,916 one-way flights to Europe this season, down 2% from winter 2023/2024.
In addition to the winter cuts mentioned above, Delta’s flights have been reduced to London Heathrow, Paris CDG, and Frankfurt especially, the latter down by more than a fifth. Excluding time-limited Las Vegas services, it plans 49 European routes, the same number year-on-year.
Amsterdam is number one (as always)
Due to KLM and SkyTeam, Amsterdam is obviously Delta’s most-served European airport. More than one in four of its European winter flights (28%) go there.
It plans the following routes, with aircraft stated in order of use. Excluding Las Vegas A330neo flights on January 10 and 11 (from the Netherlands), there are usually 14 daily departures:
- Atlanta: double daily A330-300, but also the A330neo and A350-900
- Boston: daily A330neo
- Detroit: triple daily A330-300, A330neo
- New York JFK: double daily A330neo, A330-300
- Orlando (back): daily A330-300, A330neo
- Minneapolis: double daily A330-300, A330neo
- Salt Lake City: daily A330-300
- Seattle: daily A330neo
- Tampa (new): daily A330-300
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
What about Portland?
Readers might wonder about Portland, Oregon, which Delta has served daily since 2010. KLM will replace it on October 27, with Delta’s last US-bound flight on that route lifting off on October 25.
While Delta is daily year-round on the A330-300, KLM will operate three times weekly on the 787-9. The 787-10 is scheduled on November 1, 8, and 15. In summer 2025, the plan is to run five times weekly on the 787-9.
Source: Simple Flying
