Delta Air Lines unveils its largest Caribbean winter schedule ever
Editor's note (8/6/2023): This post was updated with new information about Delta's New York to Kingston, Jamaica, route.
Delta Air Lines just unveiled a big schedule expansion that's focused on boosting your vitamin D levels this winter.
The Atlanta-based carrier announced Friday a significant increase in flights to the Caribbean this winter season, headlined by the addition of multiple frequencies from many of its major domestic hubs.
In total, the growth translates to a 30% increase in available seats to the Latin America region compared to last winter, Delta said. This represents an additional 35,000 seats available during the winter, and it'll make the 2023-2024 winter season Delta's busiest yet in the region.
Furthermore, Delta will add new service from New York to Kingston, Jamaica, launching on Jan. 13, 2024.
Kingston is a route-map pin that hasn't been served from New York since March 2020, Cirium schedules show, and Delta will operate flights there from New York once weekly on Saturdays.
The airline will go up against Caribbean Airlines and JetBlue Airways in the New York-to-Kingston market, but both of these competitors offer significantly more flights than Delta's once-weekly service. (Caribbean Airlines flies four times a week, while JetBlue offers three daily flights.)
Delta already flies from its Atlanta mega-hub to Kingston on a once-daily basis, so this New York service will complement the existing flights.
Moreover, the airline is also boosting service from Seattle to Cancun by adding an extra round-trip frequency that will depart from the airline's Pacific Northwest hub on Fridays and return on Saturdays on board a Boeing 737-800. This additional flight will commence Dec. 22 — just in time for the busy holiday season.
All of Delta's newly announced flights will be loaded into the airline's schedules this weekend, and they will all be bookable by Aug. 6. You'll find the full list of additions at the bottom of this story.
These additions join Delta's recently announced service to Curacao, as well as a return to Cartagena, Colombia.
Interestingly, short-haul international flights haven't been performing as well as many airlines would've hoped in recent weeks. Executives from Frontier Airlines, JetBlue and Spirit Airlines all shared similar sentiments during their second-quarter earnings calls, expressing dissatisfaction about the sagging demand for travel to domestic and close international destinations.
These executives repeatedly cited pent-up demand to Europe as a key reason why these shorter flights aren't operating at capacity, as one might've originally expected when the summer schedules were initially filed.
That said, travel patterns are generally cyclical, and as the mercury starts dropping, more travelers start looking to chase the sun.
Airlines know this, and it's a key reason why they boost flights to Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America during the winter season.
In fact, just this week, United Airlines made headlines for filing its busiest-ever winter schedule to Cancun. The Chicago-based carrier will fly three daily Boeing 777 wide-body flights from the U.S. to Cancun, each of which seats a whopping 364 customers.
While Delta's latest move may not necessarily be a direct response to United's expansion, it does seem to confirm that airlines are bullish on winter-weary travelers seeking out warmer pastures.
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Having more flights is also great for customers. Not only does this mean that there will be additional departure times, but increased service generally means more capacity and more competition. This should hopefully lead to lower fares.
Delta's new Caribbean flights
Delta will add service on Saturdays between the following cities beginning Jan. 13, 2024:
From Atlanta:
- Three times to St. Thomas
- Twice to St. Martin
- Twice to Guatemala
- Three times to San Jose, Costa Rica
- Three times to Liberia, Costa Rica
- Six times to San Juan, Puerto Rico
From New York:
- Resuming service to Kingston
- Three times to Cancun
From Detroit:
- Twice to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- Twice to Montego Bay, Jamaica
- Twice to San Juan
From Minneapolis:
- Twice to Punta Cana
- Twice to Montego Bay
- Twice to San Juan
- Added Liberia service (currently four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays)
From Boston:
- Twice to San Juan
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