Delta inherited its Mumbai operations from Northwest and used to fly to Mumbai via Amsterdam through 2016. They closed this route, blaming the Middle Eastern carriers for making it uncompetitive for them. In 2018, with their close cooperation with Jet Airways, Delta again saw the possibility of launching operations to Mumbai, with 9W supplying traffic into the Mumbai hub.

Delta eventually launched flights to Mumbai in 2019, flying a Boeing 777LR from New York JFK. However, with Covid19 related flight groundings in early 2020, the route was killed after a few months of operations. A lot has changed since, with Russian Airspace being closed to American carriers and the permanent removal from the Delta fleet of the Boeing 777-200LRs, some of which now fly for Air India instead. Ever since, while American Airlines and United have limited operations to India, Delta has not been able to come back, given they don’t have an aircraft to operate the route.

Delta expects to return to India in 2026

Delta currently has the A350-900 as its flagship aircraft. But earlier in 2024, the airline also placed an order for 20 A350-1000 aircraft, which would give it the range to fly further than it can right now. Thrifty Traveler, a US-based outlet, recently happened to be in the same room as Ed Bastian, the Delta CEO, and they reported that he is now looking at a 2026 return to India once the new aircraft joins the fleet.“We really want to serve that market directly,” Bastian said.

ThriftyTraveler also mentions that Delta’s partnership with IndiGo is coming up, but no details are available for now.

Bottomline

With the Airbus A350-1000 induction in the fleet around the corner, Delta expects to (re-re) launch flights to India in 2026. However, the details of which markets it will serve might be announced closer to the launch date. The airline also intends to do a partnership with IndiGo in the future.

What do you make of Delta’s return to India, if it happens? Much needed or too much capacity already?

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