Delta to Begin Daily Service Between Los Angeles and Beijing

LOS ANGELES, March 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) plans to begin daily nonstop service between Los Angeles International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport on Dec. 16, 2016, pending U.S. Department of Transportation and foreign government approval.

Los Angeles, the largest market for service to Asia, drives 21 percent of all U.S.-Asia demand, and the start of Beijing service marks Delta's fifth daily nonstop flight to the Asia-Pacific region in addition to Tokyo-Narita, Tokyo-Haneda, Shanghai and Sydney. Shanghai service was added in July 2015, and Delta will be the only carrier to offer service to both Beijing and Shanghai from Los Angeles. The launch of service is timed to capture peak holiday and Chinese New Year traffic.

Delta's Los Angeles-Beijing flight will offer customers convenient connections to more than 39 cities in China, including - Chengdu, Shenyang, Qingdao, Xian and Hangzhou on SkyTeam partners China Eastern and China Southern, while the Los Angeles-bound Beijing flight will offer key connections to Denver, Las Vegas, Portland, San Diego and Phoenix as well as 35 other markets throughout the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Delta's new service will continue to support several established and emerging fields of business, including entertainment, technology, healthcare, government, education and professional services.

The route will operate using a 291-seat Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with 37 full flat-bed seats in Delta One, 36 seats in Delta Comfort+ and 218 seats in Main Cabin.

"Delta's new nonstop service to Beijing continues our expansion in China, providing our business customers with access to Beijing and beyond through our partnerships with the market's leading carriers, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines," said Ranjan Goswami, Delta's Vice President – Sales, West. "This is an important route for customers who will enjoy the investments we've made to upgrade Delta's airport facilities, onboard service, full flat-bed seats with direct aisle access in Delta One, WiFi, and industry-leading complimentary in-flight entertainment."

Combined with its hubs in Seattle and Detroit, Delta will operate 21 weekly departures to China's capital, Beijing. Additionally, Delta offers 28 weekly departures to China's global financial center, Shanghai, from its key markets and hubs in Los Angeles, Detroit, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita.

Daily nonstop service between Los Angeles and Beijing beginning Dec.16:

Delta's rapidly expanding Los Angeles service currently includes 162 peak-day departures and a recently completed $229-million facilities enhancement of Terminal 5 at LAX that features a remodeled Delta Sky Club, a renovated Sky Priority lobby and a brand new premium check-in experience, Delta ONE at LAX. Delta's seat growth in Los Angeles has grown more than 99 percent since 2009, the most of any carrier.

Onboard Delta supports the music of emerging artists and short-form content creators through exclusive partnerships that provide in-flight content for customers, who can now enjoy free entertainment from every seat out of Los Angeles through Delta Studio. Every Delta flight from Los Angeles offers Delta One/First Class and Delta Comfort+ seating, and nearly every domestic and international flight features Wi-Fi service.

Customers traveling internationally in the Delta One cabin will enjoy a number of amenities including recently introduced sleep suits, Westin Heavenly In-Flight Bedding, noise-reducing headsets, Tumi amenity kits, as well as a thoughtful culinary and wine experience.

Delta Air Lines serves nearly 180 million customers each year. In 2016, Delta was named to Fortune's top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the fifth time in six years. Additionally, Delta has ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an unprecedented five consecutive years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 327 destinations in 57 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products and services, and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on the Delta News Hub, as well as delta.com, Twitter @DeltaNewsHub, Google.com/+Delta, Facebook.com/delta and Delta's blog takingoff.delta.com.

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SOURCE Delta Air Lines