Delta Matching JetBlue With New York JFK-Houston Intercontinental Route

Delta Air Lines is adding flights between New York JFK and Houston Bush Intercontinental this fall, launching a route that will directly compete with one of its biggest rivals in the Northeast.

The SkyTeam Alliance carrier will offer twice-daily service between the airports from Oct. 27, according to Diio by Cirium schedules. The company will fly new Airbus A220s on the route.

“Our new twice-daily flight to Houston... marks another step in Delta’s ongoing investment to provide New York customers with the broadest network," says Chuck Imhof, vice-president of New York and Sales-East Region at Delta.

While Delta already flies between New York LaGuardia (LGA) and Houston Intercontinental (IAH), the new route begins the same day that JetBlue Airways moves to Intercontinental from Houston Hobby (HOU). JetBlue serves Houston from both Boston Logan (BOS) and JFK.

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Delta and JetBlue have long been fierce competitors. They both consider Boston and JFK key bases, with JetBlue returning to Delta’s Atlanta global hub in 2017.

Spirit Airlines and United Airlines also fly between the New York area and Houston Intercontinental, Diio data shows. Southwest Airlines flies to Houston Hobby from New York LaGuardia.

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Delta plans to grow system capacity by roughly 3% in 2019, though analysts forecast that the increase could be closer to 4%.