Long-haul travel's bottomless demand might be coming to an end sooner than Delta Air Lines had anticipated.
Six long-haul routes will be discontinued by the Atlanta-based carrier for the winter 2023–2024 season, according to plans submitted over the weekend and later confirmed by a carrier representative.
The following flights will be the last ones the airline operates in late October.
• Atlanta-Duesseldorf, Germany (service ends Oct. 26).
• Atlanta-Stuttgart, Germany.
• New York-Berlin.
• New York-Copenhagen.
• New York-Geneva.
• New York-Stockholm.
Delta is making normal modifications in six transatlantic markets from Atlanta and New York-JFK as the demand climate for winter travel becomes more obvious, according to a statement outlining the change. These markets will switch to seasonal service.
Also, for the duration of the winter season, Delta will stop operating two routes (from Detroit and Seattle) to Beijing.
It's becoming more and more obvious that Delta and its rivals are experiencing weaker demand during the traditionally slower winter travel season, which is particularly slow in the transatlantic market.
In fact, New York to Berlin and Geneva, two of the routes that Delta is cutting, were initially intended to be operated seasonally. However, the airline decided to extend the service to year-round operations in response to stronger-than-anticipated booking trends.
Just about two months later, Delta is changing its mind about making year-round flights since, presumably, there wasn't enough interest.
Not only is Delta a major airline seeing what seems to be a softening in bookings for the slower winter months.
In its latest investor guidance, United Airlines stated on March 13 that "the Company is noticing new seasonal demand patterns, with lower-demand months such as January and February 2023 growing less than higher-demand months."
Of course, Delta's reductions are a year or so away, but the airline's adjustments seem to be in line with United's about the reemergence of seasonal booking patterns in many markets.
That said, Delta’s reduction will have no impact on its financial guidance, a company representative stated.
The joint-venture partners of Delta, Air France and KLM, which fly to all of the aforementioned European locations from their hubs in Paris and Amsterdam, respectively, will offer passengers who were booked on one of the canceled flights alternate one-stop options.
Alternatively, those who had their flights canceled could choose to receive a complete refund in their original form of payment.
FACEBOOK