Delta Introduces Redesigned Route Plan

Next summer, Delta Air Lines will introduce a redesigned schedule at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, which the carrier claims will accommodate growing customer demand and will reduce airport congestion and delays. For starters, the airline will offer more flight options to 14 new international destinations that do not operate during peak hours, pending foreign government approval. Nine of these routes are transatlantic and include services between JFK and Tel Aviv; Edinburgh, Scotland; Dakar, Senegal; Nairobi, Kenya; Cairo, Egypt; Malaga, Spain; Amman, Jordan; and Lagos, Nigeria. In conjunction with this new plan, Delta also has filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation to add direct service to Cape Town, South Africa.

The other five new nonstop flights will operate between JFK and Latin America, including service to Panama City, Panama; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; San Jose, Costa Rica; and Liberia, Costa Rica. Specific launch dates of these 14 flights can be found on Delta's web site.

To reduce delays, Delta said it would make a series of changes before these new routes take effect next summer. The airline plans to reduce average hourly departures by 6 percent during the most congested hours; decrease departures during JFK's afternoon rush hour by shifting short-haul trans-Atlantic flights to a third bank of international departures after 7 p.m.; optimize connecting times to increase transit time between connecting flights; increase the number of Delta flights operated with larger jets; and eliminate all Delta flights at JFK that operate with turboprop aircraft.

Delta said the redesign would offer a more than 20 percent increase in available seat miles by summer 2008, with only 11 more daily departures. Visit [www.delta.com].