Delta (NYSE:DAL) Announces New Non-Stop New York–Iceland Flight Service

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) recently announced plans to become the first US based airline to offer a non-stop flight service between the US and Iceland, detailing a proposed new Delta Air Lines flight from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport to Reykjavik, Iceland.

Delta Air Lines has also released tentative flight schedules which are currently pending approval by the Icelandic government, but which are expected to be confirmed shortly. Tickets can currently be purchased from Delta and will also be available through other ticketing channels from Saturday, the 14th of August onwards.

The flight will actually originate from the Delta Air Lines hub, the St. Paul international Airport in Minneapolis (using the same flight number), and make a stop at JFK in New York, where the majority of passengers are expected to board. This flight will touch down in Iceland at the Keflavik International Airport, which is located approximately 50km (31 miles) from the capital, Reykjavik.

The new non-stop flights between JFK and Reykjavik will be operated using Boeing 757-200 aircraft, with 15 BusinessElite seats and 155 Economy Class seats. The aircraft chosen for this flight, the Boeing 757-200 aircraft, is also the largest type of aircraft capable of landing at the Reykjavik Airport (located just 2 km from the Reykjavik city centre), where flights are usually diverted to when the Keflavik International Airport is closed due to bad weather conditions.

“Our new flight to Iceland is another milestone in our efforts to be the leading domestic and international carrier in New York. We have always prided ourselves in offering a large number of unique destinations from our JFK hub to provide customers convenient access to growing but underserved global markets. The addition of Reykjavik also marks the first service in Iceland for SkyTeam, the leading global airline alliance that includes Delta, Air France-KLM, Alitalia and nine other airlines,” said Gail Grimmett, Delta’s senior vice president - New York.

This new JFK – Reykjavik service does not affect Delta’s capacity guidance for 2011, which it announced recently.