The long-haul route map of Delta Air Lines is getting two interesting upgrades.
The first is the introduction of a brand-new service that will connect Nice, a major summertime travel destination for Americans on the French Riviera, with the airline's mega-hub in Atlanta.
Beginning on May 12 and continuing every day through September 29 is the new 4,749-mile route.
On the new route, Delta will operate a 238-seat Boeing 767-400 equipped with 156 regular main cabin seats, 28 extra-legroom Comfort+ seats, 20 Premium Select recliners, and 34 Delta One business class pods.
As well as expanding its previously announced route from Atlanta to Tel Aviv, Delta is doing the same.
The airline will switch to daily service on this 6,437-mile route as of April 16 (shortly after the Jewish Passover vacation).
The Airbus A350 in the "35L," or the ex-LATAM configuration, will still be used to operate the Tel Aviv route, even if the frequency of the route is being increased.
When Delta received these A350s, they were already in use, and the historic cabin layout is still present.
There are no premium economy recliners aboard the aircraft, and there are 30 lie-flat beds in a forward-facing 2-2-2 arrangement in business class.
There are a massive 63 Comfort+ seats and 246 regular seats in the economy class.
This is the second significant change that Delta has made to the Tel Aviv service, even though the flight hasn't yet taken off.
Initially announced in July 2022, Delta intended to begin service from Atlanta to Tel Aviv on May 10.
A few weeks later, on March 26, the carrier submitted preparations to begin the flight far earlier than anticipated.
Now, the increase in daily service comes only a few days after American Airlines announced that it would abruptly stop operating flights between Miami and Tel Aviv on March 24.
The decision by Delta to enter the market on a daily basis could be seen as an opportunistic effort to profit from the traffic that American is losing as a result of its route change.
With its remaining Tel Aviv service from its New York hub, American won't be able to offer connections to Atlanta from locations around the southeast, including Miami and the larger South Florida catchment area, with reduced overall journey times.
Along with serving Israel from Atlanta and New York, the airline just began operating a new trip between Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and Tel Aviv in May.
While American continues to reduce its flight offerings in the market, it is obvious that something is driving Delta to increase its Israel service.
It's important to note that United is without a doubt the best U.S. airline for service to Tel Aviv.
From Chicago, Newark, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., the Chicago-based airline offer flights to the nation.
In reality, a recent schedule modification by United increased connectivity from Chicago (four weekly flights) and San Francisco (upgrading to a larger Boeing 777-300ER).
It's interesting that Delta's new service from Atlanta to Nice and Tel Aviv technically signals the carrier's return to operation.
According to Cerium timetables, the airline last operated flights from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Nice in September 2006 and Tel Aviv in August 2011.
Delta will be able to provide many more one-stop choices to certain well-known locations in Europe and the Middle East with the resumption of flights from Atlanta, giving customers even more interesting travel possibilities.
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