Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa and Starlux Add International Routes

Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa and Starlux Airlines have each scheduled the launch of new intercontinental services, expanding their respective networks to Dublin, Johannesburg and San Francisco.

MINNEAPOLIS-DUBLIN

Delta Air Lines has unveiled plans to launch a new seasonal route between Minneapolis and Dublin—a move that followed Aer Lingus’ confirmation that it will restart flights between the cities next summer after an absence of four years.

The SkyTeam alliance member’s new nonstop connection will link Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and Dublin Airport (DUB) five times per week using Boeing 767-300s, beginning May 9, 2024.

With the addition of this route, Delta will offer summer flights to DUB from three of its US hubs—Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL), Boston Logan (BOS) and MSP–in addition to year-round service from New York John F. Kennedy (JFK).

Details of the new transatlantic service came shortly after Aer Lingus announced that it will resume DUB-MSP from April 29, 2024, offering four roundtrips per week aboard Airbus A330s. Frequencies will increase to daily from October 2024, when it hopes to be operating an A321XLR on the sector.

Aer Lingus initially launched the 3,723-mi. (3,235 nm) route using 757s in July 2019 and maintained daily service until the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Since then, operations have remained suspended.

According to data provided by Sabre Market Intelligence, Aer Lingus carried 55,500 two-way passengers between Dublin and Minneapolis between July and December 2019. About 72% of them traveled point-to-point, while 27% started their journey at points behind DUB. Overall O&D traffic between the cities amounted to 77,000 two-way passengers in 2019.

At present, Delta serves three European destinations year-round from MSP, flying to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) up to 3X-daily, Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) 2X-daily and London Heathrow (LHR) daily. Reykjavik Keflavik (KEF) is also served daily during the summer season.

The carrier’s Ireland network comprises three daily routes to Dublin from ATL, BOS and JFK, providing almost 10,800 two-way US-Ireland weekly seats. The capacity figure marks a drop of approximately 16% on summer 2019, when Delta also served Shannon, Ireland, daily from JFK.

MUNICH-JOHANNESBURG

Lufthansa is opening a second route to Johannesburg during the summer 2024 season, returning to the city with flights from Munich for the first time in almost 20 years.

The Star Alliance member, which already serves Johannesburg from its Frankfurt hub, will commence operations from Munich Airport (MUC) to O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) from June 3. An Airbus A350 will be deployed on the 5,246-mi. (4,559-nm) sector three times per week.

The route marks a restoration of nonstop Lufthansa flights between Munich and Johannesburg for the first time since 2005, when it opted to axe the service in favor of launching Frankfurt-Cape Town nonstop.

The planned expansion comes after the airline in August resumed a codeshare agreement with South African Airways (SAA) and expanded cooperation with Airlink. The pact with SAA sees the South African carrier place its code on Lufthansa’s daily Boeing 747 Frankfurt-Johannesburg service, with options for onward destinations in Europe.

Similarly, the codeshare partnership with Airlink allows passengers to fly from the South African cities of Durban, East London, George and Gqeberha on Lufthansa’s connections to Frankfurt from JNB and Cape Town on one booking.

Although MUC-JNB is unserved at present, the route was previously a mainstay of SAA’s network until the onset of the pandemic. Sabre data shows that 64,350 passengers flew from JNB to MUC in 2019—only 14.5% of whom flew point-to-point between the cities. About 30% of traffic was bridge—meaning passengers did not start their journey in Johannesburg nor end it in Munich—while behind and beyond traffic was split at about 27.8% each.

The new route to Johannesburg was announced as Lufthansa unveiled plans to grow its North American network next year. From Munich, daily service to Seattle will start on May 30, while Frankfurt sees new 5X-weekly routes to Minneapolis from June 4 and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, from June 6.

TAIPEI-SAN FRANCISCO

After launching its first route to the US in April, Taiwanese carrier Starlux Airlines has confirmed that San Francisco will be the airline’s second destination in the country.

Flights between Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) will debut on Dec. 16, initially operating three times per week using Airbus A350-900s. Frequencies will be ramped up to daily from March 2024.

Starlux added service to Los Angeles in late April, two years after securing a foreign air carrier permit from the US Transportation Department. Flights were initially 5X-weekly but have since increased to daily.

In the Taipei-San Francisco market, the airline will face competition from rivals EVA Airways and China Airlines, which operate the 6,454-mi. (5,608-nm) sector 3X-daily and 9X-weekly, respectively, at the present time. United Airlines also offers daily service, but frequencies will rise to 2X-daily from late October.

Starlux will have a seat capacity share of about 6% once its flights begin, data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows. EVA will have a 45.4% share, followed by United with 28.4% and China Airlines with 20.2%.

Alongside the planned San Francisco launch, Starlux has revealed that it intends to make Seattle its third destination in the US during 2024. The airline already has a partnership with Alaska Airlines. At the present time, EVA is the sole operator of nonstop flights between Taipei and Seattle.