PilotBases

https://thriftytraveler.com/news/air...n-minneapolis/

Highlights selected by me-

Aeromexico:
“We're expecting that we will get an order, which will be good news,” Peter Carter, Delta's executive vice president for external affairs, said. “We were expecting that they were going to terminate the joint venture, basically, by May. And our joint venture is alive and well.”

India:
Between the distance of the flight and bans on flying through the airspace of both Russia and Iran, Delta can't make it to cities like Delhi (DEL) or Mumbai (BOM) today – at least not without heavily restricting passengers or cargo. But the Airbus A350-1000 can make it a reality, Bastian said.

“We really want to serve that market directly,” Bastian said.

Delta's first Airbus A350-1000s are expected to arrive sometime late next year. That long-haul service from Delta is likely a linchpin for another development: Bastian said Thursday that Delta will soon announce a partnership with Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo.

Pacific:
He also said the airline would use the Airbus A350-1000 to expand even “further into the Pacific,” but didn’t mention specific destinations.

Scandinavian:
“I'm sure they're interested in adding service,” Bastian said. “We'll be very interested in our own service as well.”

Bastian reiterated his goal of pulling the airline into their transatlantic joint venture with Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic – a critical move that would allow them to closely coordinate both flight schedules and airfare pricing.

Boeing:
“It makes my head hurt every time I look at Boeing and see what problems they're having. I wish they'd get their act together,” he said. “Thank god we've been heavily oriented toward Airbus.”

Tinpusher007

These are all positive comments IMO. Lets hope they actually come to fruition. Im most curious what "further into the Pacific" entails.

Gunfighter

More flights to ICN

PilotBases

Speculating, MNL, SIN, MEL, Chyna eventually. Not sure HKG returns.

Indigo might help make broader India service viable. Could we return to BOM and also perhaps DEL?

Could also see stuff like ARN/CPH go year round from JFK and perhaps upgauge to the A330?

Tinpusher007

Except that's not further as we already serve the market well and have for a long time now.

Tinpusher007

Of all these, I'll buy SIN, MEL and Chyna? if/when relations between the US and China imrpove with a coressponding increase in demand. I think MNL is too long of a flight and too low yielding. As for HKG, it seems its not what it used to be and CX dominates from any viable market from our network (LAX, SEA, NYC). I don't see our core hubs working for HKG service. BOM and DEL could both be in play with Indigo.

Gunfighter

​​​​​​Delta Air Lines, not Delta pilots will push further into the pacific. Our involvement mostly ends at partner hubs. Look for more ICN service from LAX and SLC.
BBN, MEL and SIN have been tossed around since the 35k order was announced. I'm optimistic, but look toward CDG and AMS for my answer.

PilotBases

SLC-ICN on 350 confirmed

https://news.delta.com/delta-opens-n...ake-city-seoul

Trip7

Isn't MNL a visiting friends and family(VFR) destination? I think that low yielding traffic keeps getting funneled thru ICN.

I think every fast.growing economic center are good targets. Vietnam with all the manufacturing moving there is probably a good bet along with Singapore and Hong Kong. More cities in China also a good possibility:

Largest Chinese Cities by population

1. Shanghai: 24.87 million
2. Beijing: 21.54 million
3. Guangzhou: 18.68 million
4. Shenzhen: 17.56 million
5. Chongqing: 15.87 million
6. Tianjin: 13.86 million
7. Wuhan: 13.52 million
8. Chengdu: 16.93 million
9. Dongguan: 8.46 million
10. Nanjing: 8.50 million
11. Shenyang: 8.32 million
12. Hangzhou: 10.71 million
13. Harbin: 10.63 million (included in top 10 most populated cities)
14. Suzhou: 10.72 million (included in top 10 most populated cities)
15. Zhengzhou: 10.35 million

PilotBases

Like Tinpusher said, I don't see China due to political relations. Vietnam not a bad guess, they're in SkyTeam, so we could look to use that. I'd love to see Hong Kong return but skeptical there.

Either way, I take the report as positive, Ed stating that we want to add our flying too, and numerous town halls where GH has stated we will look to bolster intl growth. Lots of good in store for us, a healthy dose of skepticism is always useful, but also must remember to keep the positives at the forefront!

I believe our final 339 in our current order book either comes late next year, or early 2026, so we should ideally see something next year if we plan to take more options in the form of 339s. Can we call KLM and AF and grab their used 330s? -200s would be welcome to offset 763 flying. Saw a nice shiny KLM one last week and thought the widget would look nicer on its tail!