Delta Air Traces on Wednesday introduced two new Europe routes out of Boston for summer season 2026, doubling down on Beantown as competitors over town continues to warmth up.
The airline will start flying from Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS) to Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD) beginning Might 16 and to Good Cote d’Azur Airport (NCE) in southern France on Might 17.
Madrid and Good deliver Delta’s complete rely of summer season transatlantic locations from Boston to an excellent dozen, becoming a member of a hefty lineup that features flights to Amsterdam; Athens, Greece; Barcelona; Paris; Dublin; Edinburgh, Scotland; Rome; London; Lisbon, Portugal; and Milan.
Delta additionally mentioned that it might make Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN) a each day flight from Boston subsequent summer season, up from thrice per week this yr, and begin the seasonal service Might 7, sooner than this yr. Seasonal service to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) will function 4 occasions per week once more subsequent summer season, however flights will begin Might 16, a couple of week sooner than this yr.
Delta will function the BOS-MAD flight each day and the BOS-NCE flight thrice weekly. Each flights might be aboard Delta’s Airbus A330-900neo.
“As Boston’s main airline, Delta performs an important function in connecting town to the world,” Paul Baldoni, Delta’s senior vp of community planning, mentioned in an announcement. “By including nonstop service to Madrid and Good, we’re enhancing our European community and persevering with our dedication to offering an distinctive journey expertise from begin to end.”
Boston has been a extremely fascinating metropolis for Delta, which has pushed arduous to compete out there since earlier than the coronavirus pandemic. The airline’s two largest general opponents — American Airways and United Airways — each have a fraction of Delta’s presence within the Bay State.
As a substitute, Delta’s primary competitor in Boston has been JetBlue. In 2019, Delta operated a complete of 80,513 flights into and out of Boston, based on information from aviation analytics agency Cirium, whereas JetBlue dominated that yr with 114,936 flights.
Because the airline business started to get well from the pandemic shutdowns, Delta threw extra sources into Boston, squeaking previous JetBlue by way of complete variety of flights in 2023 and surpassing the New York-based boutique provider yearly since.
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Nonetheless, JetBlue has been a dogged competitor within the home Boston market and, recently, on transatlantic routes as properly. The provider launched its personal flight to MAD this previous summer season, together with service to Edinburgh Airport (EDI).
Delta declined to say whether or not the brand new BOS-MAD flight was immediately prompted by JetBlue flying between the cities however as an alternative mentioned that it was persevering with to construct out its Boston hub wherever it sees alternatives and demand.
“The true motivation is to fly the biggest underserved transatlantic markets,” Amy Martin, Delta’s vp of community planning, advised TPG at a gathering in Boston. “We’re flying locations primarily based on what we hear from clients, and successes of current markets.”
As Delta defends its title as Boston’s largest airline, the provider plans to proceed increasing as a lot as its gate capability at BOS permits, together with basing A330-900neo crews within the metropolis.
“We’re at all times discussing how large we are able to make Boston,” Martin mentioned. “We’re home progress in addition to worldwide.”
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