Delta to begin daily service between Los Angeles and Beijing

LOS ANGELES – Delta Air Lines plans to begin daily nonstop service between Los Angeles International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport on Dec. 16, 2016, pending U.S. Department of Transportation and foreign government approval.
 

Los Angeles, the largest market for service to Asia, drives 21 percent of all U.S.-Asia demand, and the start of Beijing service marks Delta’s fifth daily nonstop flight to the Asia-Pacific region in addition to Tokyo-Narita, Tokyo-Haneda, Shanghai and Sydney. Shanghai service was added in July 2015, and Delta will be the only carrier to offer service to both Beijing and Shanghai from Los Angeles. The launch of service is timed to capture peak holiday and Chinese New Year traffic.
 

Delta’s Los Angeles-Beijing flight will offer customers convenient connections to more than 39 cities in China, including – Chengdu, Shenyang, Qingdao, Xian and Hangzhou on SkyTeam partners China Eastern and China Southern, while the Los Angeles-bound Beijing flight will offer key connections to Denver, Las Vegas, Portland, San Diego and Phoenix as well as 35 other markets throughout the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Delta’s new service will continue to support several established and emerging fields of business, including entertainment, technology, healthcare, government, education and professional services.
 

The route will operate using a 291-seat Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with 37 full flat-bed seats in Delta One, 36 seats in Delta Comfort+ and 218 seats in Main Cabin.
 

“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,” said Ranjan Goswami, Delta’s Vice President – Sales, West. “This is an important route for customers who will enjoy the investments we’ve made to upgrade Delta’s airport facilities, onboard service, full flat-bed seats with direct aisle access in Delta One, WiFi, and industry-leading complimentary in-flight entertainment.“
 

Combined with its hubs in Seattle and Detroit, Delta will operate 21 weekly departures to China’s capital, Beijing. Additionally, Delta offers 28 weekly departures to China’s global financial center, Shanghai, from its key markets and hubs in Los Angeles, Detroit, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita.
 

Delta’s rapidly expanding Los Angeles service currently includes 162 peak-day departures and a recently completed $229-million facilities enhancement of Terminal 5 at LAX that features a remodeled Delta Sky Club, a renovated Sky Priority lobby and a brand new premium check-in experience, Delta ONE at LAX. Delta’s seat growth in Los Angeles has grown more than 99 percent since 2009, the most of any carrier.
 

Onboard Delta supports the music of emerging artists and short-form content creators through exclusive partnerships that provide in-flight content for customers, who can now enjoy free entertainment from every seat out of Los Angeles through Delta Studio. Every Delta flight from Los Angeles offers Delta One/First Class and Delta Comfort+ seating, and nearly every domestic and international flight features Wi-Fi service.
 

Customers traveling internationally in the Delta One cabin will enjoy a number of amenities including recently introduced sleep suits, Westin Heavenly In-Flight Bedding, noise-reducing headsets, Tumi amenity kits, as well as a thoughtful culinary and wine experience. 
 

Delta Air Lines has also entered into a codeshare partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Jet Airways to provide convenient connections for passengers to and from key destinations across North America to the Indian Subcontinent via Amsterdam.
 

Effective March 27, 2016, Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, will launch daily non-stop flights from Amsterdam to each to its hubs in Mumbai and New Delhi. These will complement KLM’s daily flight between Amsterdam and New Delhi. Furthermore, Jet Airways will also operate a daily flight to Toronto from Amsterdam.
 

The three-way partnership will enable customers to enjoy enhanced connectivity and seamless travel throughout the combined networks of Jet Airways, KLM and Delta. Schedules of all three flights have been planned to allow quick and convenient connections between India and Toronto via Amsterdam.
 

Nat Pieper, Senior Vice President Europe, Middle East and Africa, Delta Air Lines said: “With more than 11,000 customers flying between the U.S. and India each day, our partnership with Jet Airways will enable us to meet the high demand for flights between the United States and the Indian sub-continent. Plus, our customers will benefit from reciprocal loyalty offerings and lounge access, meaning they can enjoy the same benefits as they would when flying on Delta.“
 

Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of our new services to Amsterdam. India’s trade relations with the Netherlands go back over 400 years and have continued to prosper in the modern age. The recent meeting between the Prime Ministers of India and the Netherlands has given a new impetus to this relationship. The new direct services by Jet Airways will facilitate greater engagement and co-operation between India and the Netherlands. As one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India has emerged as a key destination. Initiatives such as ‘Make in India’ and ‘Startup India’ launched by the Government of India have given a boost for foreign investment and trade.“
 

He continued: “Our daily flights between Amsterdam and India will have a significant positive impact on our network and connectivity by opening up multiple destinations in Europe and North America. The codeshare partnerships with KLM and Delta will offer customers wider access, unmatched connectivity and seamless travel from key destinations in Europe and North America to India.“
 

Pieter Elbers, President & CEO KLM said: “With this new partnership with Jet Airways we are happy to join hands in order to extend our services to more customers all over the world. Together with our Joint Venture partner Delta we will transfer passengers smoothly and swiftly between three continents and via KLM’s home base Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, thus expanding choice and connectivity for our customers. The economic value of the partnership for the integral Dutch economy is estimated €100 million annually.“
 

Highlights of the agreement include:
 

Under the codeshare arrangement, Jet Airways will place its marketing code on KLM’s flights from Amsterdam to 30 cities across Europe including key destinations such as: Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Geneva, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Helsinki, Madrid, Manchester, Oslo, Prague, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Vienna, and Zurich.  
 

Jet Airways will also place its marketing code on KLM and Delta flights to 11 points across USA and Canada, namely: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, Newark, Washington, San Francisco, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver.
 

For customers flying on KLM and Delta flights from North America and Europe, both airlines will place their marketing codes on Jet Airways’ flights between Amsterdam and Mumbai and Delhi. The airlines will also place their codes on flights beyond these gateways to key destinations including: Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Goa, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Kolkata, and Amritsar.  Subject to government approvals, KLM and Delta will also codeshare on flights to Kathmandu, Nepal and Dhaka, Bangladesh.
 

Customers flying via Mumbai and Delhi will also be able to access Jet Airways’ network of 48 destinations within India as well as destinations in the Indian subcontinent and Asia.