As counterintuitive as this may seem, Delta Air Lines flies full-size widebody aircraft on its short one to two-hour flights between its primary hub at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) and multiple airports within the state of Florida.

These flights fall far short of being the typical length for services of this type and allow passengers to book lie-flat business class products on routes that barely crack an hour and a half in flight time.

Typically, as previously analyzed multiple times by Simple Flying, airlines will use widebody aircraft to serve routes within the United States that connect their major hubs, as they offer a convenient way to funnel passengers from one gateway to another. However, Tampa International Airport (TPA) and Orlando International Airport (MCO), both of which are served with widebody flights from Atlanta, do not operate as hubs for Delta Air Lines.

Not your ordinary domestic widebody flights

Furthermore, these flights are not just one-off services operated during the busiest seasons or on the weekends when passenger numbers may be higher. These are daily roundtrip services with flagship intercontinental aircraft, flights that connect Atlanta with sunny destinations in Florida just an hour or two away.

Nonetheless, there are a few arguments in favor of these flights, some of which may help explain why the airline has selected to move forward with such seemingly illogical operations. Let’s take a deeper look at Delta’s widebody flights from Atlanta to Florida, examine why they exist, and explain what the future could hold for these routes.

Commercial

A look at Delta’s domestic widebody network and these flights specifically

For the most part, Delta’s domestic widebody network abides by the standard norms that typically govern the use of widebody aircraft on flights within the US. That is to say that the carrier’s widebody fleet is typically deployed on routes that either connect multiple Delta hubs or on flights to Hawaii, which given its distance, requires widebody range for nonstop service from the East Coast.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-900neo (N405DX).

Photo: The Global Guy | Shutterstock

Nonetheless, there are a few noticeable exceptions to this rule, which can be explored by taking a deeper look at the airline’s officially published domestic schedule. Some outliers immediately catch one’s attention, such as flights from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), which does not happen to be a Delta hub.

The most noteworthy among the many outliers

Of the routes within the United States that Delta operates with widebodies, four nonstop daily frequencies to Orlando may be one of the first things that most would find unexpected. These four roundtrip flights operate on the following schedule:

Flight number:

Departure Airport:

Departure Time:

Arrival Airport:

Arrival Time:

Aircraft type:

Delta Fight 1213

ATL

8:15 AM

MCO

9:45 AM

Airbus A330

Delta Flight 1658

ATL

9:20 AM

MCO

10:50 AM

Airbus A330

Delta Flight 1150

ATL

3:15 PM

MCO

4:52 PM

Airbus A350

Delta Flight 1497

ATL

5:20 PM

MCO

6:50 PM

Airbus A350

Delta Flight 1213

MCO

11:05 AM

ATL

12:40 PM

Airbus A330

Delta Flight 1658

MCO

12:05 AM

ATL

1:40 PM

Airbus A330

Delta Flight 1694

MCO

7:00 PM

ATL

8:45 PM

Airbus A350

Delta Flight 1497

MCO

8:10 PM

ATL

9:50 PM

Airbus A350

If Delta operated a single nonstop frequency every day between Atlanta and Orlando with a widebody jet, it would be noteworthy, something which makes four daily roundtrip frequencies with intercontinental widebodies abnormal. Furthermore, these four roundtrips are accompanied by three other services:

  • Delta Flight 664, which operates on Tuesdays and Sundays with an A330
  • Delta Flight 1576, which operates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
  • Delta Flight 1372, which operates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

With these flights added, Delta serves Orlando upwards of 30 times per week roundtrip with widebody jets. This demonstrates an unbelievably large amount of capacity to pour into this relatively small domestic leisure market.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A350-900 landing at AMS

Photo: Kevin Hackert | Shutterstock

Not the only widebody destinations in Florida

As previously mentioned, Delta does operate two roundtrip flights every day from Atlanta to Tampa International Airport (TPA). These flights operate on the following schedule:

Flight number:

Departure Airport:

Departure Time:

Arrival Airport:

Arrival Time:

Aircraft type:

Delta Flight 1227

ATL

8:35 AM

TPA

10:04 AM

Airbus A330

Delta Flight 1720

ATL

1:40 PM

TPA

3:04 PM

Boeing 767

Delta Flight 1227

TPA

11:30 AM

ATL

1:02 PM

Airbus A330

Delta Flight 1720

TPA

4:19 PM

ATL

5:55 PM

Boeing 767

Again, Delta operates two daily widebody services to a relatively small, nearby Florida destination. These flights are not joined by any non-daily services.

So what’s the bigger picture here?

At the end of the day, there are a few plausible explanations that could be behind why Delta chooses to operate such a bizarre set of services. For starters, Orlando and Tampa are two massive leisure destinations, with the former seeing over 55 billion annual passengers per year, according to the facility’s statistics.

Noticeably, Orlando is one of the busiest airports in the United States that does not have a major legacy airline hub. Therefore, many flying long-haul from Orlando will need to connect somewhere along the way, and Delta is capitalizing on this large amount of connecting traffic with these four daily widebody flights. A similar argument for Tampa can be made but on a smaller scale.

A Delta Boeing 767 taking off

Photo: Vytautas Kielaitis | Shutterstock

Furthermore, as both Tampa and Orlando are physically close to Atlanta, Delta can serve these cities with widebodies that are waiting for long-haul intercontinental services. As a result, the impact on the carrier’s operations is reduced, and aircraft utilization will be increased.

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