In honor of Cinco de Mayo, Delta Air Lines has just announced a brand-new flight to Mexico City.
According to a carrier spokesperson, the airline will start operating daily flights from its hub at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Mexico City International Airport (MEX) on December 21, 2023.
The Boeing 757-200 will fly the new 2,276-mile route. While some Delta 757s have lie-flat business class seats, those traveling from Boston to Mexico City only have domestic recliners near the nose of the aircraft.
At 7:50 a.m., Delta Flight 250 will leave Boston and arrive in Mexico City at 12:55 p.m. At 2 p.m., return flight 251 will depart from Mexico City and touch down in Boston at 7:51 p.m.
By this weekend, Delta will add the new flight to its itinerary, and on Sunday, May 7, you can begin purchasing tickets. Just keep in mind that government approval is required for Delta's new service.
The addition of the Mexico City route is only the most recent in a string of significant gains for the airline's Boston hub.
By adding a new service to Tel Aviv and Athens, Greece, last year, Delta increased the long-haul destinations available from Boston. In the near future, Boston will have connections to six of the airline's joint-venture hubs, including Amsterdam (KLM), London (Virgin Atlantic), Paris (Air France), Sao Paulo (LATAM), Seoul, South Korea (Korean Air), and, as of now, Mexico City (Aeromexico).
Aeromexico, a participant in a joint venture with Delta, will be involved in the operation of the Mexico City route. The two SkyTeam member airlines established a transnational alliance in May 2017 that offers customers additional flights and a more convenient travel experience. Delta will soon run 10 flights per day between six of its U.S. hubs and Mexico City thanks to this new route. Additionally, Aeromexico is 20% owned by Delta.
All of this development occurs as Delta prepares to introduce a substantial footprint expansion in Boston. It will have a larger international terminal and a gorgeous new Sky Club, both of which are scheduled to open in August or September.
In Boston, JetBlue Airways and Delta compete against one another. Additionally, JetBlue views the city as one of its most significant hubs (or focus cities, as JetBlue prefers to call them).
In recent years, the two airlines have competed head-to-head for market supremacy. While JetBlue's international gateways are mostly geared toward leisure travel, Delta's most recent international expansion should entice travelers interested in exploring places outside of those.
Interestingly, Cirium timetables reveal JetBlue operated flights between Boston and Mexico City from October 2018 through January 2020. The airline left the market to concentrate on more profitable routes, such as "a portfolio of leisure and VFR markets [or 'visiting friends and relatives,' a subset of leisure travelers] that... continue to produce strong margins," JetBlue president Joanna Geraghty said at the time.
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