Delta Air Lines is expanding the reach of its domestic network.
The Atlanta-based airline is adding new long-haul service between Boston and Honolulu, as well as a new transcontinental route from Miami to Seattle.
The new Hawaii service will operate daily on a seasonal basis beginning November 21 and running through April 30, 2025. Delta will operate a newly updated Boeing 767-300ER on the route, which will have 26 Delta One lie-flat business class seats, 18 Premium Select armchairs, 21 Comfort+ seats with extra legroom and 151 standard economy seats.
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With the addition of the new nonstop service to Honolulu, Delta will now serve Hawaii’s capital from all but one of its nine hubs. (The airline cannot operate flights from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Hawaii due to the airport’s perimeter rule and short runways.)
At 5,095 miles, this new route from Boston to Honolulu will be the airline’s longest domestic route, replacing the current 4,983-mile nonstop New York to Honolulu.
All told, Delta will increase its presence in Hawaii this coming winter with a total of 22 daily nonstop flights.
This includes adding a second and third daily frequencies to Honolulu from Salt Lake City and Seattle, respectively. (The former begins on November 6 and the latter on December 21. Both seasonal frequencies end on March 29, 2025.)
In addition, Delta will resume service from Atlanta to Maui this winter — a route that began in 2022 and last operated in March 2023, Cirium’s schedule shows. This recurring route begins on November 21 and runs until March 29, 2025.
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All this growth in Hawaii comes as Delta tries to capitalize on winter leisure demand. Instead of focusing planes on Europe (where there is seemingly bottomless demand during the summer months), the airline needs to find destinations that can turn a profit in the winter.
Hawaii has proven to be a great option in the past, so it will be interesting to see how this new Boston service performs.
Delta will compete with Hawaiian Airlines on this route. An average of 190 passengers flew between Boston and Honolulu across all airlines in the first quarter of 2023, according to Department of Transportation data analyzed by Cirium.
In addition to the new flights to Hawaii, Delta will continue to expand its strategic position in Miami by adding year-round daily service to Seattle, starting December 21.
By winter, Delta will operate 38 peak-day flights to 13 destinations, including all nine hubs, from Miami.
Since the airline’s joint venture with LATAM was approved, the airline has been working to make Miami a gateway hub for flights to and from South America.
Miami is the primary U.S. hub for LATAM, and Delta’s additional feed will allow both airlines to expand their feed beyond the Sunshine State to destinations across the country.
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