Delta’s Transpacific Plans For Winter 2020/21 and Summer 2021

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Updated 23 September: Delta has scaled back some of its route plans

Delta has announced that it plans to significantly increase the number of flights it offers across the Atlantic and across the Pacific in the coming winter and summer seasons. The airline says that the peak will come in the summer 2021 season when it will be operating over 50 more transoceanic flights than it had in the summer 2020 schedule.

If you’re a Delta flyer this is clearly good news, but what the airline hasn’t been very clear about is if the 50 transoceanic flights it will be adding by summer 2021 are in comparison to the planned 2020 summer schedule or to the schedule that eventually operated for most of the summer. The two are very different. Nevertheless, the plans Delta has been discussing look promising, so I’m using two separate posts to examine what Delta has in store for its customers over the next few months. In this post, I’m taking a look at Delta’s transpacific plans (click here to read about Delta’s transatlantic plans)

Delta’s Transpacific Plans

American Airlines and Alaska Airlines are best friends once again and are building up their presence in Alaska’s hometown of Seattle…but Delta doesn’t look like it’s ready to cede control of Seattle just yet. The airline has confirmed that it continues to view Seattle as a “premier gateway” to Asia and it plans to continue offering a significant number of services from Seattle to the following destinations:

• Beijing (BJS)* – no service in the winter season and a daily service in summer 2021
• Tokyo (HND) – 4x/week in the winter season and a daily service in summer 2021
• Seoul (ICN) – 4x/week in the winter season and a daily service in summer 2021
• Shanghai (PVG)* – daily service from 25 October 1 December and a daily service in summer 2021

*Subject to government approval

Once the new arrivals facility is complete at Seattle-Tacoma airport, Delta believes it will be able to offer local and connecting customers direct or one-stop partner access to over 95% of Asian destinations. Furthermore, Delta has committed to offering its newest cabins (Delta Suites and Delta Premium Select) on all of its routes out of Seattle via a mix of A350-900 and A330-900neo aircraft

As far as other transpacific routes go, this is what Delta has planned:

Seoul (ICN)

As things stand, Delta offers flights to Seoul from Detroit (which then route on to Shanghai), Atlanta, and Seattle (see above) and now the airline has confirmed that it plans to add services from Minneapolis. Here’s what winter and summer frequencies are set to look like:

• From Atlanta – 5x/week in the winter season and a daily service in summer 2021
• From Detroit – a daily in the winter season and in summer 2021
• From Minneapolis – no service in the winter season and 5x/week in summer 2021

Tokyo Haneda (HND)

Delta says that it “remains committed to the Japan market” and by summer 2021 it plans to serve Tokyo Haneda from seven US cities. Currently, the airline offers up to 14 weekly flights across its Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Seattle hubs, and from December 2020, it plans to add up to 4 flights per week from Honolulu as well as introducing new flights from Portland in summer 2021. Here are the planned frequencies:

• From Atlanta – 4x/week in the winter season and a daily service in summer 2021
• From Detroit – 3x/week in the winter season and a daily service in summer 2021
• From Honolulu – 4x/week from December 2020 and a daily service in summer 2021
• From Los Angeles – 3x/week in the winter season and a daily service in summer 2021
• From Minneapolis – no service in the winter season and 5x/week in summer 2021
• From Portland – no service in the winter season and 5x/week in summer 2021
• From Seattle – 4x/week in the winter season and a daily service in summer 2021

Shanghai (PVG)

Delta is one of just two US airlines authorized to fly between the United States and China (the other being United Airlines) and it currently serves Shanghai 4x/week out of Detroit and Seattle (all flights route through Seoul). Subject to government approval, Delta plans to increase service to Shanghai out of Detroit and Seattle in summer 2021 as well as introducing flights out of Los Angeles. Here’s what Delta’s planned frequencies to Shanghai look like:

• From Detroit* – daily from 25 October 1 December and a daily service in summer 2021
• From Los Angeles* – no service in winter season and a daily service in summer 2021
• From Seattle* – daily service from 25 October 1 December and a daily service in summer 2021

*Subject to government approval

Nagoya (NGO)

Delta doesn’t appear to have passed any comment about its plans for flights to/from Nagoya but its planned operations show the airline operating 3 weekly flights between Detroit and Nagoya in summer 2021.

Sydney (SYD)

Delta plans to restart services between Los Angeles and Sydney in the upcoming winter season with 3 weekly flights. The airline says plans to offer a daily service between the two cities in summer 2021.

Considering Australia has been very vocal about keeping its borders tightly shut for some time to come and considering Qantas’ CEO is on record as having said that he doesn’t expect his airline to recommence services to the US until the middle of next year, Delta’s plan to opera a 3x/week service to Sydney starting this winter seems ambitious and I can’t help but wonder how the airline plans to make that many flights viable. I’m only too happy to admit to not being an airline or flight scheduling specialist but I’ll be surprised if Delta’s plans for a 3x/week service this winter ever materialize.

Bottom Line

Overall, Delta plans to offer 45 weekly flights across the Pacific by the end of the coming winter season and an impressive 116 weekly transpacific flights in summer 2021. A number of routes are yet to get final government approval but as most of the paperwork that’s left is little more than a rubber-stamping exercise, if we can get Covid-19 under control by next summer, Delta will have an impressive transpacific schedule in place.