Delta adds new long-haul route to French Riviera, upgrades longest Tel Aviv flight

Delta Air Lines is making two exciting updates to its long-haul route map.

The first is the addition of a brand-new flight connecting the airline's mega-hub in Atlanta with Nice, a popular destination on the French Riviera for American tourists during the summer.

The new 4,749-mile route will commence on May 12 and will operate daily through Sept. 29. Delta will fly a 238-seat Boeing 767-400 on the new route, which features 34 Delta One business-class pods, 20 Premium Select recliners, 28 extra-legroom Comfort+ seats and 156 standard main cabin seats.

The new flight will be available for sale on Saturday, Jan. 14.

Meanwhile, Delta is also boosting its previously announced service from Atlanta to Tel Aviv. As of April 16 (just after the Jewish Passover holiday), the airline will upgrade this 6,437-mile route from three-times-weekly service to daily service.

Though the airline is increasing the frequency of the Tel Aviv route, it isn't changing the equipment that it'll fly — an Airbus A350 in the "35L," or the ex-LATAM configuration.

These A350s were already used when Delta took delivery of them, and they still feature the legacy cabin configuration.

In business class, travelers will find 30 lie-flat beds in a forward-facing 2-2-2 configuration, and there are no premium economy recliners on the jet. The economy cabin has a whopping 63 Comfort+ seats and 246 standard seats.

Though the flight hasn't yet launched, this represents the second major update that Delta has made to the Tel Aviv service.

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When it was first announced back in July 2022, Delta planned to start Atlanta to Tel Aviv on May 10. Just a few weeks later, the carrier filed plans to start the flight much earlier than planned, on March 26.

Now, the boost to daily service comes just days after American Airlines announced that it's (somewhat surprisingly) cutting service from Miami to Tel Aviv on March 24.

Delta's move to go daily in the market might be considered an opportunistic move to capitalize on the traffic that American is giving up with its route cut.

Delta will be able to funnel connections to Atlanta from cities throughout the southeast, including Miami and the greater South Florida catchment area, with shorter total travel times than American will be able to offer with its remaining Tel Aviv service from its New York hub.

In addition to serving Israel from Atlanta and New York, the airline recently launched a new flight last May between Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and Tel Aviv. Clearly, something is working for Delta to keep boosting Israel service, while American keeps pulling back its flights in the market.

It's worth noting that United is the undisputed leader among the U.S. airlines in Tel Aviv service. The Chicago-based carrier flies to the country from Chicago, Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. In fact, United expanded connectivity from Chicago (four weekly flights) and San Francisco (upgraded to a higher-capacity Boeing 777-300ER) in a recent schedule update.

Interestingly, Delta's new flights from Atlanta to Nice and Tel Aviv technically mark service resumptions for the carrier. The airline last flew from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Nice in September 2006 and to Tel Aviv in August 2011, Cirium schedules show.

With the relaunch of flights from Atlanta, Delta will be able to offer many more one-stop options to some popular cities in Europe and the Middle East, giving passengers even more exciting travel options.

For more about Delta's network, check out:

• Delta is making 2 exciting changes to its newest long-haul routes
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• Best Delta credit cards of January 2023