Delta Air Lines is expanding its Airbus A330 flight schedules to Cancun. The airline had previously scheduled the flights through December. Now, a few months into the crisis and with a little more understanding of passenger behaviors under their belt, Delta’s team is likely betting the A330 will work on flights to Cancun.
Expanding flight schedules to Cancun
At the end of September, Simple Flying reported that Delta Air Lines was planning Airbus A330 services to start in November and run through at least December. Now, nearly a month later, Delta has expanded its flight schedules to fly more A330 services to Cancun, according to Routesonline:
- Detroit (DTW): one daily Airbus A330-300 service from December 7th through January 10th
- Atlanta (ATL): one daily Airbus A330-300 service from November 8th through the end of March
- Salt Lake City (SLC): one daily Airbus A330-300 service from November 8th through March 27th
- New York (JFK): one daily Airbus A330-300 service from November 6th through March 27th
Delta Air Lines is flying multiple daily flights on several of these routes, so if you are looking specifically for an A330-operated flight, check the aircraft type before you book.
Why the Airbus A330s?
Delta’s long-haul route network buildup is going to take time. In the meantime, the airline has plenty of widebody aircraft sitting idle and plenty of room in the airline’s schedule. From an aircraft perspective, these planes have traditionally operated routes to South America, Europe, and select routes to the Pacific and East Asia.
These planes have room for 293 passengers onboard. This includes 34 Delta One reverse herringbone lie-flat seats, 40 extra-legroom economy seats, and 219 standard economy seats. The business class cabin is in a 1-2-1 configuration, while the latter two classes are in a 2-4-2 configuration.
Onboard this plane, the business class cabin will have no capacity limits since it is a twin-aisle cabin. Meanwhile, in coach, Delta is blocking middle seats. On the A330s, these are the middle two seats in the middle set of four seats. However, for passengers traveling in groups of one or two, certain seats will remain blocked, but for parties of three or more, passengers can book seats together. So, for example, a family of four could book out the middle section.
Will there be another expansion of Cancun flights?
With these A330 flights, Minneapolis, Seattle, Boston, and Los Angeles are the only Delta hubs where the carrier is not flying a widebody out of to Cancun. Seattle, Boston, and Los Angeles are coastal hubs, but without long-haul routes, there is little appetite for connecting on some of these flights.
Of those, the most likely hub to see A330 service would be Minneapolis. The A330s have flown out of Minneapolis plenty of times in the past, but the Boeing 767 is currently flying Delta’s Minneapolis to Amsterdam route, the only transatlantic route the carrier is flying right now out of Minneapolis.
Are you going to hop on any of Delta’s A330 flights to Cancun? Let us know in the comments!
