Delta swoops to land London-JFK rights
Delta Air Lines is to acquire London-New York route rights from United Airlines.
If approved by the US government, Delta aims to start daily flights to JFK from Gatwick by the end of the year. The Atlanta-based carrier would then add a second daily service in spring 2007.
United is to discontinue Heathrow-JFK flights at the end of October as part of a plan to expand trans-Pacific services from the US.
Delta harbours ambitions to gain access to Heathrow and is supporting efforts to push for a transatlantic open skies regime which would allow it into the main London gateway.
In the meantime, the airline claims to have reached a “milstone” after 10 years of trying to gain access to the lucrative London-New York market.
Delta said it had reached a “definitive agreement” with United to acquire the authority to operate between London and JFK.
The airline’s chief operating officer Jim Whitehurst said: “Our customers have long awaited the addition of daily non-stop Delta flights on the world’s most popular international route. Airline consumers will benefit from the increased competition these flights will generate as they fill a critical gap in our international network.”
If approved, the Gatwick-New York service will operate this winter alongside two flights a day to Atlanta and one a day to Cincinnati from Gatwick, Manchester-New York, Manchester-Atlanta and Edinburgh-Atlanta.
The airline wants to deploy 214-passenger Boeing 767-300ER aircraft on the new route to its growing New York hub.
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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