5 Domestic Routes Served By Delta A350s

Legacy carrier Delta Air Lines is the United States’ only operator of the Airbus A350, the latest generation widebody aircraft designed by European manufacturer Airbus and a place designed to improve fuel efficiency and passenger comfort. Delta operates this aircraft primarily across its long-haul network, as the plane is ultimately intended for long-haul services with an impressive extended range.

Nonetheless, the plane is sometimes uniquely deployed on certain decidedly not long-haul routes, including a handful of domestic services. Simple Flying has already explored many of the odd particularities of the Delta domestic widebody schedule, including an extensive discussion of why the airline flies to multiple Florida airports using widebody jets from its Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) mega hub.

At the end of the day, the Airbus A350’s most efficient operational range is not typically short or medium-haul. However, with large premium cabins and additional capacity, there are times when having this next-generation widebody makes sense for a route that may only be a few hours long.

For Delta, the aircraft allows the airline to increase its premium offering on certain routes that are heavily saturated with business traffic, while also taking advantage of planes that may be waiting on the ground in between long-haul international services. Let’s take a deeper look at five unique domestic flights operated by Delta Airbus A350s.

5

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

Number of Airbus A350 daily flights in fall 2024: 4

These include:

• Delta Flight 0898
• Delta Flight 0753
• Delta Flight 0301/0515
• Delta Flight 0500/0528

Delta’s latest domestic schedule demonstrates that the airline flies several times per day between Atlanta and Los Angeles using Airbus A350 jets, likely due to the large amount of premium demand between the California city and the airline’s largest hub. Four times per day, Airbus A350s depart from Atlanta bound for Los Angeles, all of which operate daytime transcontinental services.

Photo: Parkdolly | Shutterstock

In the return direction, however, Delta only offers two Airbus A350 frequencies between Los Angeles and Atlanta, as many of the aircraft used on this route continue to Asian destinations on overnight flights. Overall, the carrier operates 5 daily widebody services in each direction on this route, using a combination of Airbus A350s, A330, and Boeing 767s.

As one of the most premium-dense routes in the United States, the connection between Atlanta and Los Angeles is saturated with business travelers, making the additional premium capacity onboard the A350 all that much more valuable. Furthermore, for red-eye flights, the widebodies allow the airline to sell lie-flat seats to business travelers valuing some shut-eye.

4

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) to Orlando International Airport (MCO)

Number of weekly operations in fall 2024: 1

Delta has a bizarre once-weekly Airbus A350 service that is operated between Orlando and its Atlanta hub, which uses the same flight number in each direction of its roughly 4-hour roundtrip. This flight is operated exclusively on Saturdays and offers the airline extra capacity on this high-demand service between its Atlanta hub and one of the most popular leisure travel destinations.

Photo: viper-zero | Shutterstock

There is limited premium demand between Atlanta and Orlando, which is primarily saturated with price-conscious vacation travelers. Furthermore, with a simple roughly 90-minute flight, there are very few passengers who would be excited about paying a significant amount extra for a lie-flat seat. Nonetheless, the carrier can utilize an aircraft in a revenue-yielding capacity when it would otherwise be sitting on the apron in Atlanta.

3

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP)

Number of one-way daily Airbus A350 flights in fall 2024: 3

Including:

• Delta Flight 1746
• Delta Flight 2258
• Delta Flight 1484

Photo: Karolis Kavolelis | Shutterstock

Delta flies twice per day from Detroit to Atlanta using the Airbus A350, which constitute the only widebody services offered by the airline between these two cities. In the reverse direction, the airline flies only one daily flight between Minneapolis and Detroit with the A350, which is also the only widebody service operated by Delta between the two cities. These flights essentially allow Delta to shuttle its long-haul aircraft between two different multinational gateways, while also adding early morning capacity between these two major hubs.

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2

Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

A350 operations are seasonal on this route

The legacy carrier has also been known to increase its domestic operations with Airbus A350s during the peak leisure travel seasons, in which business travel demand to some long-haul destinations has become considerably weaker. One of these routes that sees Airbus A350 service in the summer but not in the winter is BOS-LAX, which saw A350 flights for a couple of key reasons:

• These services provided additional premium demand between the two cities
• These flights allow Delta to shuttle aircraft between West and East Coast hubs

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1

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) to Phoenix-Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)

A350 operations are seasonal on this route

Much like the airline’s route between Boston and Los Angeles, the flights connecting Phoenix and Atlanta with Airbus A350s exclusively operate during the summer seasons. An earlier analysis from Simple Flying indicated that the airline operates two roundtrip Airbus A350 flights on this route during the month of July. Likely, the carrier shifts its A350 capacity away from airports like Phoenix during the non-peak travel seasons to target high-revenue business travelers.

Photo: Delta Air Lines

In the fall of 2024, however, the carrier removed the Airbus A350 from many of its domestic routes for which the aircraft is utilized during the peak travel seasons. Currently, the airline operates a single daily roundtrip widebody flight between the two cities, which uses the Airbus A330 and operates on the following schedule: