Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) might be the busiest airport in the world, but that is primarily due to its dominance as a domestic hub. Of the 105 million passengers that passed through ATL last year, only 12% were international travelers, and ATL ranks just 7th in the US when it comes to international passenger traffic.

A view of Atlanta Hartfield Jackson Airport in the evening.

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

A good portion of that international traffic heads south to Latin America and the Caribbean, so when it comes to transatlantic traffic, it is not surprising that Cirium, a data analytics company, shows ATL lagging large East Coast and Midwest hubs such as New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Washington (IAD) and Chicago (ORD).

Yet ATL still does have a substantial transatlantic market, with over 1,300 flights to/from 18 European cities in November. So, let’s look at which airlines will fly between ATL and Europe next month.

Delta and KLM Tails at AMS

Photo: Alexey Komarov | Wikimedia Commons

Delta Air Lines dominates the market

Unsurprisingly, Delta Air Lines dominates the transatlantic market from ATL, with a total of 774 flights in November, or 59% of the market. Its reduced winter schedule still has it flying to 11 different destinations across Europe, with a focus on the hubs of its SkyTeam partners: Air France at CDG, KLM at AMS and Virgin Atlantic at LHR. Each of these gets 2-3 daily flights, depending on the day.

Number of flights (Nov) 774
Destinations from ATL Amsterdam (AMS), Barcelona (BCN), Dublin (DUB), Frankfurt (FRA), London (LHR), Madrid (MAD), Milan (MXP), Munich (MUC), Paris (CDG), Rome (FCO); Stuttgart (STR),
Aircraft utilized B767-300/400; A330-200/300/900; A350-900
a350_1_3-2

Photo: Delta Air Lines

Following a record summer of transatlantic services, Delta has announced that its 2025 transatlantic summer service will be even bigger, with new routes and expansion of existing routes. For Atlanta, this will include the following:

  • Athens (ATH): The seasonal ATL-ATH service ends this month but will be back next year in an expanded format, with Delta utilizing A350-900s on the route and increasing the frequency to 11 weekly flights
  • Brussels (BRU): Seasonal service will resume in June with a 3-times-weekly operation utilizing a B767-300
  • Edinburgh (EDI): Service to the Scottish capital will resume in April with a daily B767-300 service.
  • Naples (NAP): Delta will launch a new ATL-NAP service in May next year, operating four times a week and using an A330-200.
  • Nice (NCE): The popular daily service from Atlanta to the French Riviera returns in May with a B767-400 service.
  • Venice (VCE): The seasonal ATL-VCE route ends this month and will resume in April using a B767-300.
  • Zurich (ZRH): The ATL-ZRH route is restored with daily service in April using a B767-300.

Related

Delta Air Lines Plans Largest-Ever Transatlantic Expansion With Several New European Routes

Delta Air Lines is focusing on Italy next summer and will make its Catania debut in May 2025. This will be the first ever US connection for the city.

The operations of the SkyTeam partners

Delta has joint venture agreements with its SkyTeam partners Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic, so ATL is an important destination for these European airlines. And while each flies to numerous destinations across North America, ATL also offers them the best hub for onward connectivity to the North American destinations they don’t serve directly.

The transatlantic operations to ATL for each of these carriers are as follows:

  • Air France will operate 112 flights on the ATL-CDG route during November. For the majority of the month, these will be twice-daily flights using an A350-900 and B777-300ER, dropping to a single A350-900 flight in the final week of the month. This complements Delta’s 2-3 daily flights to CDG.
  • KLM will operate 120 flights on the ATL-AMS route during November, made up of twice-daily flights utilizing a mix of its 20-year-old B777-200s and brand-new B787-10s. This complements Delta’s twice-daily A330-300 service to AMS.
  • Virgin Atlantic operates two routes to ATL. It has a daily A350-1000 service from LHR, which complements Delta’s 3-time-daily B767-400 service on the same route. It also connects Manchester (MAN) to ATL five times a week using a mix of A330-300s and -900s. In total, Virgin will operate 104 flights to/from ATL in November.

But this SkyTeam transatlantic partnership also has a new kid on the block. Scandinavian carrier SAS recently joined SkyTeam after 30 years in the Star Alliance, following the purchase of an equity stake in the carrier by Air France-KLM.

This led it to open a year-round route from Copenhagen to Atlanta this past summer, and during November, it will be flying it five times a week with an A330-300. The net result is that the SkyTeam partners in total represent 88% of the transatlantic capacity to ATL.

SAS, Airbus A330

Photo: Airbus

Other European airlines operating to ATL

Three other European airlines are flying to ATL outside of the SkyTeam alliance, all of them European giants that carry enough transatlantic traffic that they aren’t put off about flying to a competing alliance hub. They are:

  • British Airways provides a daily ATL-LHR service using its aging B777-200 fleet. The airline used to fly its B787-10s to ATL when it first joined the fleet but has since transitioned to a higher-capacity option.
  • Lufthansa utilizes A340-300s for an ATL-FRA service that operates six times a week. The airline uses the A340s extensively on its US routes, and this is one of the last opportunities to fly on this aging beauty.
  • Turkish Airlines flies to ATL 10 times a week during the summer using its B787-9 fleet, but this drops back to a daily service in November. The carrier now serves 14 US destinations and plans to expand to 20 in the near future.
Lufthansa Airbus A340-300 taking off

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Related

Further Growth: Why Turkish Airlines Is Expanding Its US Service

The carrier will operate over 150 weekly roundtrips to the US this summer.

Which European airports are most connected to ATL?

AMS and CDG have long been the largest transatlantic destinations from ATL, but this has changed in recent years. With the addition of Virgin Atlantic to the mix, LHR now has five daily flights from Atlanta for most of November and a total of 292 flights for the month (or 22% of all transatlantic traffic from ATL).

Heathrow Third Runway

Photo: London Heathrow

However, given the larger size of the aircraft on the flights to Paris, the ATL-CDG route offers the most transatlantic seats from ATL at 79,450 (vs. 75,136 to LHR). AMS is the third-most connected destination, with 236 flights in November for a total of 67,924 seats. Rounding out the top five are FRA (106 flights; 26,214 seats) and FCO (84 flights; 27,082 seats).

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