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Showing posts from December, 2018

Delta Aircraft Change on Heathrow Route

Delta has announced a minor change on its route from Boston to London-Heathrow. As of March 30, 2019, Delta Air Lines will operate an Airbus A330-200 on the route instead of the Boeing 767-300ER that is currently in use. This will result in a total increase of 8 seats, from 226 to 234 seats, however, more importantly, all of them will be business class seats. This is important because Boston to London is a very premium heavy route and business class seats are the most profitable. The current business class on the route is usually sold out, so Delta thinks the market could benefit from an increase in premium seating. Source:  www.delta.com

Overall Delta Expansion at Boston in the Upcoming Year

With all the recent new route announcements from Delta, I wanted to create one post to highlight the true scale of the airline's and its partners' expansion in the upcoming year from Boston. Amsterdam, Netherlands- KLM launches new service - March 31 London-Heathrow- Additional daylight trip by Virgin Atlantic - April 1 Cleveland-  Delta  launches new 3x daily service - April 1 Pittsburgh-  Delta  increases from 4x to 5x trips - April 2 Seoul-Incheon, South Korea - Korean launches 5x weekly service - April 12 Jacksonville, Fla. -  Delta  increases from 2x to 3x trips - April 14 Nashville, Tenn. -  Delta  increases from 3x to 4x trips - April 15 Edinburgh, Scotland -  Delta  launches seasonal daily service - May 23 Lisbon, Portugal -  Delta  launches seasonal daily service - May 23 Indianapolis -  Delta  increases from 3x to 4x trips - June 8 Philadelphia -  Delta  increases from 4x to 6x trips - June 8 Chicago O’Hare -  Delta  launches new 5x daily service - Sept. 9 Newark, N

United Cuts Cleveland Route, Delta Adds Cleveland

United is terminating its route between Boston and Cleveland and Delta is beginning service from Boston to Cleveland. United Airlines will be terminating its 3 times daily service between the two cities as of March 7, 2019. Less than an hour after United's announcement, Delta announced they will be starting service from Boston to Cleveland 3 times daily beginning April 1, 2019. I would not be surprised to learn that Delta had no intention of starting the route yet, but seeing United leave the route, they decided to quickly add the route to not let JetBlue further strengthen its position on the route. Although it is sad to see United remove the route, it's great that there will be a carrier to pick it up. Source:  news.delta.com

Massive Delta Expansion

Delta Air Lines has been rapidly expanding from Boston Logan Airport, with a goal of growing a large focus city. The airline has announced several new important regional routes from Boston. The routes are as follows, Boston to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington D.C. 6 times daily starting September 8, 2019; Boston to Chicago O'Hare 5 daily flights beginning September 8, 2019; Boston to Newark, New Jersey 4 flights daily starting September 9, 2019; and Boston to Cleveland 3 daily flights from April 1, 2019 (more on that in a separate post). All flights will be serviced by Delta Connection Embraer E170s. That is an increase of 18 daily flights from Boston. These flight addition hold more significance than it seems. All of the markets are major business markets, and markets in which Delta is weaker in than its competitors: United Airlines (in Newark, Chicago, and Cleveland) and American Airlines (in Chicago and Washington D.C.). Delta is adding these flights to str

Possibility of Royal Air Maroc Adding Flights to Boston

For a while there has been speculation that Royal Air Maroc, the flag carrier of Morocco, will be joining the OneWorld Airline Alliance. This has been all but confirmed now and is being covered by major aviation news outlets. In a recent article by The Points Guy, he wrote about the future routes to North America by the airline. The airline has announced it will begin flights to Miami as of next year, however, the article has a paragraph about new destinations that says, " Miami will be added next April and Boston in July, according to the airline." That sentence surprised me, because although I have long thought that this is a route that will be served, no official announcement has been made. Royal Air Maroc codeshares with JetBlue, so people could use Boston as a transit airport en route to Morocco. Additionally, this route could be used by people who need to arrive at some other destination in Africa, using the robust African network, a continent that has limited service

American Airlines Adds A321T on Los Angeles - Boston Route

American Airlines has announced they will fly an Airbus A321T between Boston and Los Angeles starting April 2, 2019. This is a very premium configured Airbus A321, with First class and Business class featuring lie-flat seats, and only 72 economy seats. This is done on the highly competitive route where United, JetBlue, Delta and now American Airlines featuring lie-flat seats in business class. This is fantastic news and a huge upgrade for business class passengers compared to the non-lie-flat recliner business class offering on American Airlines Boeing 737-800. The catch is that American Airlines operates 7 daily flights between Boston and Los Angeles, however, only two daily frequencies will be flown on the A321T, and other frequencies will continue to be flown by aircraft with no lie-flat seating in premium classes. Source:  onemileatatime.com

Norwegian Announces Flights from Rome and Madrid to Boston

Recently I wrote that in the Massport's Board Meeting powerpoint, on a slide about new routes, there was a mention of Norwegian Airlines adding flights to Rome from Boston, hinting at the possibility of the route being announced soon. The official announcement has been made and came with an extra twist. Norwegian Airlines will inaugurate seasonal service to Madrid and Rome from Boston next year. Both routes will be flown on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner,. The route to Rome will be flown four times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, beginning March 31, 2019. Madrid will be serviced three times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, starting May 2, 2019. With these route additions, Norwegian will fly to four transatlantic destinations from Boston. This move also breaks up the monopolies held by Alitalia and Iberia, on their routes to Rome and Madrid respectively. I find the addition of Madrid very surprising, this will be the 3rd carrier to announce their intentio