LONDON – On September 28, Delta Air Lines announced that they will be returning their daily scheduled services between New York’s JFK Airport and London Gatwick.
JFK Service Returns
Re-commencing from April 10, 2023, Delta Air Lines will be flying its daily service between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and London’s Gatwick Airport (LGW).
This will make the first return of Delta at London Gatwick since they exited the airport back in 2012. Back then the carrier was operating services to its home base in Atlanta, Georgia (ATL) since beginning its transatlantic services back in 1978, where Gatwick was the first-ever destination Delta served on a transatlantic service to the UK.
This restarted service will be flown by the carriers Boeing 767-300 aircraft. Delta currently has a total of 45 Boeing 767-300’s in its fleet, of which all are the ER (Extended Range) variant.
The carrier also has 21 of the longer and much rarer Boeing 767-400 aircraft, of which only 38 were ever built. Delta as we know has 21, but also United Airlines has 16 of the type and a further one is operated for the Bahrain Royal Flight registered as A9C-HMH.
Across the 45 Boeing 767-300’s in their fleet there are three different cabin configurations, those are –
- 26 Business Class and 200 Economy Class seats – 226 total seats.
- 26 Business Class, 18 Premium Economy and 172 Economy class seats – 216 total seats.
- 36 Business Class and 175 Economy Class seats – 211 total seats.
John F. Kennedy is, besides Atlanta, one of Delta’s gateway hubs to further destinations not just across North America, but further afield too giving travellers a lot of choice in terms of where they want to head too, be it for leisure or business.
Commenting on Delta’s announcement on returning to London Gatwick, Stewart Wingate, Gatwick Airport’s Chief Executive Officer has said: “We are thrilled to welcome Delta Air Lines back to Gatwick. It means that we will expand furthermore our connectivity to the US.”
“This trust from such a network carrier as Delta underlines the competitiveness and the operational capabilities of Gatwick. Delta is a huge name in the transatlantic market and being able to offer passengers across London and the South East the opportunity to travel with them between Gatwick and New York City is fantastic, providing not only wider choice, but further competition. It also demonstrates the strong pull of Gatwick as an airport for big name, long-haul airlines.”
Overall
Adding to Wingate’s comments, Delta Air Lines’ Vice President of EMEAI, Nicholas Ferri adds, “Delta is delighted to be returning service to London Gatwick which is where we first started our flights from the UK to the United States over 40 years ago.”
“Next summer our daily Gatwick to New York JFK flight will offer convenient options for those customers going to America on holiday or business.”
It is certainly great to see Delta returning to Gatwick after 11 years of a hiatus. This certainly helps to back up that the transatlantic market is not just returning back to normality, but is once again beginning to grow now that we are at the tail-end of the Covid pandemic.
