Delta Air Lines is expanding the reach of its domestic network.
The Atlanta-based carrier 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 seasonally on a daily basis beginning Nov. 21 and running through April 30, 2025. Delta will deploy a newly retrofitted Boeing 767-300ER on the route that will feature 26 Delta One lie-flat business-class seats, 18 Premium Select recliners, 21 Comfort+ extra-legroom seats and 151 standard economy seats.
Want more airline-specific news? Sign up for TPG’s free biweekly Aviation newsletter.
With the addition of the new nonstop to Honolulu, Delta will now serve the Hawaii capital from all but one of its nine hubs. (The airline can’t operate flights from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Hawaii due to the airport’s perimeter rule and its short runways.)
At 5,095 miles, this new Boston-to-Honolulu route will become the carrier’s longest domestic route, taking over from the current one: the 4,983-mile nonstop from New York to Honolulu.
All told, Delta will boost its presence in Hawaii with a total of 22 daily nonstop flights this coming winter.
This includes adding a second and third daily frequency to Honolulu from Salt Lake City and Seattle, respectively. (The former begins Nov. 6, and the latter commences Dec. 21. Both seasonal frequencies end March 29, 2025.)
Additionally, Delta will resume service from Atlanta to Maui this winter — a route that started in 2022 and last operated in March 2023, Cirium schedules show. This returning route will begin Nov. 21 and operate through March 29, 2025.
Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
Related: Alaska, Delta unveil 2 new — and unusual — routes to Hawaii
All of this Hawaii growth comes as Delta seeks to capitalize on leisure demand during winter. Instead of pointing planes to Europe (where there’s seemingly bottomless demand during the peak of summer), the airline needs to find destinations that can turn a profit in winter.
Hawaii has proven in the past to be a great option, so it’ll be interesting to see how this new Boston service performs.
Delta will go head-to-head against Hawaiian Airlines on this route. In the first quarter of 2023, there were, on average, 190 passengers flying between Boston and Honolulu across all carriers, Department of Transportation data analyzed by Cirium shows.
In addition to the new Hawaii flights, Delta will continue growing its strategic position in Miami by adding year-round daily service to Seattle, which will take off Dec. 21.
By winter, Delta will fly 38 peak-day departures to 13 destinations, including all nine hubs, from Miami.
Ever since the airline’s joint venture with LATAM was approved, the carrier has been working to turn Miami into a gateway hub for flights to and from South America.
Miami is the key U.S. hub for LATAM, and with the additional feed from Delta, both airlines can increase their feed beyond the Sunshine State to destinations throughout the country.
Related reading:
