Delta Debuts Its Newest Jet in Rival Carrier Territory
The airline is now flying the spacious A220 on strategic U.S. routes, with a focus on Texas.
A Comfort+ logo marks a passenger seat on a Delta Airbus A220.
Photographer: Mark Kauzlarich/BloombergWhen it comes to industry competition, executives at Delta Air Lines Inc. have never been accused of jabbing with soft elbows. That ferocity was on full display Thursday as the carrier launched its first Airbus SE A220 flights from Boston, Dallas and New York, deploying the technologically advanced aircraft in hotly contested business routes at large hubs that are critical to its rivals.
Delta will fly the new aircraft on all of its nonstop flights from New York’s LaGuardia and JFK airports to Dallas-Fort Worth—the largest and most profitable hub for American Airlines Group Inc. It’s also putting the A220 on nonstop flights from LaGuardia to Houston, a hub for United Continental Holdings Inc., and from LaGuardia to Boston—a JetBlue Airways Corp. “focus city.”