Delta adds 3 new routes from Atlanta and Salt Lake City hubs
Delta Air Lines will add a combined three new routes from its hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City next summer.
The SkyTeam Alliance carrier will connect Atlanta (ATL) to Boise (BOI) and Spokane (GEG) while Salt Lake City (SLC) gets a connection to Memphis (MEM), according to Cirium schedules and Delta confirms. The Boise route will be flown with an Airbus A320, the Memphis route with an Airbus A319 and the Spokane route with a Boeing 737-800. The routes begin July 6.
Delta is resuming the Salt Lake City-Memphis route after a five-year hiatus, Cirium shows. The airline also flew the Atlanta-Boise route from 2005 through 2009.
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The new routes connect three cities already in Delta's network to more of its hubs. Both Boise and Spokane are served from the airline's three western hubs — Los Angeles (LAX), Salt Lake City, and Seattle (SEA) — plus Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP).
Memphis is a former hub that Delta inherited from Northwest Airlines in 2009 and closed in 2013.
Delta's new routes come as it plans to grow by roughly 3.5% year-over-year in 2020. While slightly lower than the forecast 4% growth this year, the focus domestically will be on buoying its "core" hubs: Atlanta, Detroit (DTW), Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Salt Lake City.
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"This year's capacity increases are primarily coming in the interior hubs... [that] have not seen significant growth in the past years," said Glen Hauenstein, president of Delta, during an investor day on Dec. 12. He added that the four hubs had "been ignored" while Delta focused on building its coastal hubs in Boston (BOS), Los Angeles, and Seattle in recent years.
The new Boise, Memphis, and Spokane routes fit this strategy, helping Delta bolster connectivity at more of its core hubs.
No airlines fly between either Atlanta and Boise and Spokane, or between Salt Lake City and Memphis, Cirium schedules show.
The airline will also upgrade its seasonal flight between Atlanta and Bozeman, Montana, (BZN) to year-round status in July. Elsewhere, the carrier will add additional frequencies on a five existing routes from Salt Lake City and six routes from Los Angeles (LAX), Delta said.