These Are Delta Air Lines’ Longest Routes With Its Two Airbus A330ceo Variants

Delta Air Lines is the largest global operator of the Airbus A330 with 71 of the aircraft type currently in service. It recently surpassed Turkish Airlines for this accolade as the bulk of its A330-900neo order was delivered in the past few years. The airline currently has 29 of the “neo” (new engine option) version types in operation, with a further ten on order. The -900 version flies predominantly on transpacific routes from Delta’s west coast and midwest hubs.

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But Delta also maintains a sizable fleet of “ceo” (current engine option) A330s, consisting of 11 of the A330-200 and 31 of the A330-300. The A330ceo fleet tends to fly east on transatlantic routes or south to Latin America. Let’s take a closer look at Delta’s A330ceo fleet and the longest routes that it operates with these variants.

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Delta’s A330-200s

Diagram: AeroLOPA 

Delta inherited all 11 of the A330-200 fleet when it merged with Northwest Airlines in 2008. From 2004 onwards, these aircraft were delivered to Northwest as replacements for its aging Douglas DC-10-30s. Interestingly, the 1,000th aircraft ever made by Airbus was one of these A330-200s delivered to Northwest in November 2004, more than 30 years after the first Airbus flew. Just 20 years later, Airbus is about to surpass 16,000 aircraft delivered.

Delta’s A330-300s

Diagram: AeroLOPA 

Delta’s A330-300 fleet is also largely inherited from Northwest, with 21 of the 31 aircraft in service being delivered from 2003 to 2007. But the most recent ten A330s in the fleet, delivered directly to Delta from 2015 onwards, are the higher-weight A330-300, which includes new aerodynamics, a center fuel tank, and an extended range with improvements in fuel consumption.

Photo: James Andrews1 | Shutterstock

The longest A330ceo routes at Delta

Looking at data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, it is noteworthy that Delta’s top ten longest routes with the A330ceo all exceed 4,500 miles. Even more interesting, they originate from six different US cities to 9 international and one domestic route. They are presented in the table below and the most notable routes are examined in more detail thereunder.

Atlanta-Lagos

At over 5,800 miles, the ATL-LOS route is the longest A330ceo route for Delta and more than 15% longer than the second route on the list. Delta has been flying from its largest US hub to Lagos for many years now, and it takes advantage of the -200’s range advantage to fly the route. It must be performing well because this winter, the carrier is adding a second daily service to Lagos, this time from its hub at New York JFK. This will also use the A330-200 variant.

Portland-Amsterdam

Delta has operated the PDX-AMS route for over 15 years, providing daily service from its European hub to the west coast city. At just over 5000 miles in length, it is the airline’s second-longest flight with the A330ceo fleet. But not for much longer. In October, Delta is transitioning the route to its alliance partner, KLM, which will begin PDX-AMS service using a Boeing 787-9. However, KLM will reduce the frequency of the route to three flights a week in winter and only five per week in the summer of 2025.

Photo: Karolis Kavolelis | Shutterstock

New York-Athens

The JFK-ATH route is the most heavily trafficked of the A330ceo routes, with a total of 91 flights scheduled for September. Delta offers two daily flights to the Greek capital, departing JFK at 3.25 pm and 8.20 pm. The first flight is serviced by an A330-300 and the second alternates between an A330-300 and a -900. Delta used to have the route all to itself, but this past summer, it got a competitor in the form of Norse Atlantic Airways, which flies the route with a Boeing 787-9.

Photo: VanderWolf Images | Shutterstock

Salt Lake City-London

Delta uses the A330-900 to connect its SLC hub to its SkyTeam partner hubs in Paris and Amsterdam. But for LHR, a thinner route to a oneworld hub with less connecting traffic, it chooses to use the smaller -200. Delta doesn’t face any competition on the route, as this is not one of British Airways’ 22 destinations in the US.

Photo: Nicolas Economou | Shutterstock

Boston-Athens

Since 2019, Delta has invested heavily in building Boston up as an additional hub within its network, with a focus on transatlantic flights. The flight to Athens was added in 2022 and is a daily service with a -300 that complements the services from ATL and JFK, making Delta the largest connector between the Greek capital and the US.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Next Article: Now that you know more about Delta’s longest A330ceo routes, why not examine Delta’s shortest A330ceo routes?