Delta Air Lines flew a fleet of 18 Boeing 777s two years ago. However, with the onset of the global health crisis, the shutdown of international travel, and a desire to accelerate fleet transformation, Delta Air Lines decided to send those birds into the sunset. As international travel has come back, Delta has been busy bringing back routes and replacing those aircraft using a mix of widebodies. Here is what the airline is using.
Delta’s Boeing 777 network
Using data from Cirium for Delta’s January 2020 network, the following routes all saw service with a Boeing 777:
- Atlanta (ATL) to Johannesburg (JNB) [Boeing 777-200LR]
- Atlanta (ATL) to Los Angeles (LAX) [Boeing 777-200LR]
- Atlanta (ATL) to New York (JFK) [Boeing 777-200LR]
- Atlanta (ATL) to Shanghai (PVG) [Boeing 777-200LR]
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Paris (CDG) [Boeing 777-200ER]
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Shanghai (PVG) [Boeing 777-200ER]
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) [Boeing 777-200LR]
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo (HND) [Boeing 777-200ER]
- Minneapolis (MSP) to Tokyo (HND) [Boeing 777-200ER]
- New York (JFK) to Mumbai (BOM) [Boeing 777-200LR]
Note that Delta also had some flights out of Las Vegas (LAS) using a Boeing 777. Those additions were designed to accommodate travelers for CES 2020 and are not regularly-served routes.
Delta’s January 2022 Boeing 777 route network (excluding special Las Vegas flights). Photo: Cirium
It may seem interesting that Delta has used the aircraft to run flights from Atlanta to New York and Los Angeles. Those flights were more about positioning since it allowed Delta to efficiently utilize its Boeing 777 fleet while also adding capacity on major traffic flows and building a feed network for some of these international routes.
The routes replaced
Notably, only a few of the long-haul routes on this list are in operation today. Delta Air Lines is only flying Atlanta to Johannesburg and Los Angeles to Sydney this month. That is not…