Delta Air Lines plans to begin daily non-stop service between Los Angeles International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport on December 16, pending U.S. Department of Transportation and Chinese government approval.
Los Angeles is the largest market for U.S. service to Asia, driving 21 per cent of all U.S.-Asia passenger demand, according to Delta Air Lines.
The Boeing 777-200LR is the longest-haul aircraft type in Delta Air Lines’ huge fleet. Delta operates 10 of the ultra-long-haul widebodies
Assuming its proposed Los Angeles-Beijing service recives the requisite govvernment approvals, it will represent Delta’s fifth daily non-stop flight to the Asia-Pacific region from Los Angeles.
Delta already serve Tokyo’s Narita International and Haneda airports from Los Angeles, as well as Shanghai and Sydney. The carrier added its Los Angeles-Shanghai service in July 2015.
If its planned Beijing service gets the go-ahead, Delta will be the only carrier to offer service from Los Angeles to both Beijing and Shanghai, according to the airline.
Its planned service-launch date for the Los Angeles-Beijing route is timed to capture peak U.S. festive-holiday and Chinese New Year traffic.
The carrier’s planned schedule for its Los Angeles-Beijing service calls for flight DL9 to leave Los Angeles International Airport (IATA code LAX) at 12:30 p.m. daily from December 16 and reach Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) at 5:45 p.m. the following day, local time.
Delta has scheduled a block time of 13 hours 15 minutes for the westbound Los Angeles-Beijing sector.
In the other direction, return flight DL8 is planned to depart PEK at 7:30 p.m. from December 17 and arrive at LAX at 3:45 p.m. the same day, local time.
The airline has scheduled a block time of 12 hours 15 minutes for the eastbound Beijing-Los Angeles sector.
Delta Air Lines includes 10 Boeing 777-200LRs within its large long-haul fleet
Delta will operate the route with 291-seat Boeing 777-200ER widebodies.
Each is outfitted with 37 full flat-bed seats in its Delta One business class, 36 seats in its Delta Comfort+ extra-legroom economy class and 218 seats in its Main Cabin economy class.
“Delta’s new nonstop service to Beijing continues our expansion in China, providing our business customers with access to Beijing and beyond through our partnerships with the market’s leading carriers, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines,” says Ranjan Goswami, Delta’s vice president – sales, West.
Including services from its international hub airports in Seattle and Detroit, Delta will operate 21 weekly departures from the U.S. to China’s capital, Beijing.
Additionally, Delta offers 28 weekly departures to China’s global financial center, Shanghai, from its hubs at Los Angeles, Detroit, Seattle and Tokyo Narita.
Delta’s service from LAX now totals 162 peak-day departures and the airline has recently completed a $229-million facilities enhancement of Terminal 5 at LAX.
According to Delta, its seat-capacity growth from LAX has grown more than 99 per cent since 2009, the most of any carrier.
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