Delta’s Internal Plan Calls For Major Asia Expansion — And Why It Says Europe Is Already ‘Saturated’
I’ve already reported that Delta plans to announce service to Singapore and Manila. They’re also planning to launch New York JFK and Los Angeles to Seoul, which leverages their joint venture with Korean Air and Korean’s Seoul-Incheon hub for onward connections in Asia according to aviation watchdog JonNYC.
Jon tells us that Delta isn’t done with additional non-stop Asia routes from the Continental U.S. – and those will come from both Los Angeles and from Seattle:
So with regard to Delta’s next moves internationally; SIN, MNL, and LAX/JFK-ICN are definitely in the immediate future. It’s further stated that future Asia expansion will launch out of LA -and- Seattle, mentioning ICN as an ideal hub for onward Asian travel but mentioning that…
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) November 4, 2025
They aren’t done with their Seattle hub, even though or perhaps because Alaska is getting aggressive and beginning to go international from Seattle. On the other hand, Delta views its European network as “pretty full.” They fly extensively to Europe now. So we should look to Asia and the Mideast/Africa – but especially Asia – for new routes they’ll add as they bring on more widebody aircraft.
Expressing that the DL European network “is pretty full” and future expansion would be to Asia and Middle East/Africa (emphasis on Asia.)
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) November 4, 2025
U.S. – Asia has been strong. That’s been good for United. And we haven’t seen a building back of U.S. – China flying, which before the pandemic had way too much capacity in large measure due to Chinese government policies which encouraged airlines to ‘squat’ on routes, flying them without demand today in case they wanted to fly them in the future (only one Chinese carrier is allow to fly each route).
Those China routes significantly depressed yields on flights between the U.S. and Asia generally, because Chinese carriers sold connecting itineraries at a discount in order to fill seats on empty planes. However trade tensions between the U.S. and China, China’s slow opening from Covid, and lobbying by U.S. airlines has kept those flights at bay.
With Delta looking towards Asia that suggests we won’t see secondary U.S. cities getting flights to Europe, such as:
- Pittsburgh – Paris: summer seasonal ended in 2018
- Indianapolis – Paris: launched Ma 2018, suspended for Covid and never returned
- Hartford – Amsterdam: legacy Northwest route 15 years ago
- Memphis – Amsterdam: ended in 2012 (Memphis was a Northwest hub)
I always assume though that for operational efficiencies you’ll see flights between non-Delta hubs and Europe on Air France or KLM (or Virgin Atlantic) rather than on Delta. That’s because the flights wouldn’t have a Delta hub on either end (while Air France, KLM, et al have hubs in Paris, Amsterdam). Delta would need to position both planes and crew for the flights, adding cost, on routes that start out as likely more marginal to begin with (which is why they aren’t being flown already).
And we have plenty of evidence that Europe ‘isn’t hot’ with Delta dropping New York JFK – Brussels, Geneva and London Gatwich and with Munich not having returned this year.
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