Delta Air Lines will challenge United Airlines and Southwest Airlines with a pair of new routes from Los Angeles International Airport while abandoning two routes it faced no competition on.
Delta Adds Los Angeles – Houston Service, Challenging United
Starting on April 12, Delta will add twice daily service between Los Angeles and Houston utilizing its new Airbus A220 aircraft.
- Los Angeles (LAX) – Houston (IAH)
- Delta 2374 – Departs LAX 9:10am Arrives IAH 2:31pm
- Delta 2389 – Departs LAX 6:40pm Arrives IAH 11:54pm
- Houston (IAH) – Los Angeles (LAX)
- Delta 2346 – Departs IAH 6:15am Arrives LAX 7:56am
- Delta 2374 – Departs IAH 3:45pm Arrives LAX 5:26pm
Not only is this a hub-to-hub route for United, but is also served by American Airlines and Spirit Airlines.
Delta Adds Los Angeles – Oakland Service, Challenging Southwest
Also starting on April 12, Delta will add 3x daily service between Los Angeles and Oakland, utilizing an Embraer RJ-175 operated by its Skywest, its Delta Connection regional subsidiary.
- Los Angeles (LAX) – Oakland (OAK)
- Delta 3359 – Departs LAX 8:55am Arrives OAK 10:26am
- Delta 3586 – Departs LAX 2:00pm Arrives OAK 3:29pm
- Delta 3612 – Departs LAX 9:47pm Arrives OAK 11:13pm
- Oakland (OAK) – Los Angeles (LAX)
- Delta 3574 – Departs OAK 7:00am Arrives LAX 8:29am
- Delta 3574 – Departs OAK 11:20am Arrives LAX 12:49pm
- Delta 3574 – Departs OAK 4:20pm Arrives LAX 5:44pm
Southwest operates up to 10 daily nonstop flights. Other airlines including American Airlines and United Airlines struggled at Oakland. Spirit also offers nonstop service between LAX and OAK.
Delta Retreats From Two Markets
Delta will not restore service between Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio (CMH) and also between Burbank (BUR) and Atlanta (ATL). Both routes were not profitable, even though Delta faced no nonstop competition.
However, Delta will boost service Orlando (MCO), Nashville (BNA), and Tampa (TPA) from LAX.
CONCLUSION
Delta is adding flights in already crowded markets and abandoning markets it faces no competition on. Such is the life of an airline in 2021.
As a long time DL loyalist in IAH, this is LONG overdue and I believe will do very well once travel resumes post-pandemic. I just hope it lasts long enough!
Delta used to fly between OAK and LAX, dropped due to low demands. glad they schedule it back.
Surprise to see DL is not restoring service between CMH and LAX ( super early morning departure from CMH and redeye outbound to CMH). I believe American is offering non-stop between CMH and LAX ( or at least before pandemic)
DL, please add LAX to STL nonstop!
The proposed schedule seems slightly geared to the Los Angeles passenger. The Houston departures are a bit early in the morning and a bit early for the end of the day.
I remember being very surprised that the CMH-LAX nonstop existed when I booked it for a work trip. Not surprised it’s being cut.
I’ll miss LAX-CMH even if it was at a terribly inconvenient time of day. CMH is so hard to get in and out of…too many cancellations and weather delays, and the only nonstop to anywhere I want to go is a 3 hr flight on a regional jet that’s always overbooked.