Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines is to offer flights from three U.S. destinations to Iceland this summer after the country became the first in Europe to allow entry for fully vaccinated Americans.

Iceland’s decision to open its borders to vaccinated travelers is prompting the carrier to launch a new route to the country in May, as well as resuming two other services.

With an agreement under its belt to supply more than 60 million gal. of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) a year to Delta Air Lines, Northwest Advanced Bio-Fuels (NWABF) has secured an equity commitment to build a plant to produce jet fuel from waste wood.

The Atlanta-based carrier expects pandemic-weary passengers to return to flying this spring and summer.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he expects the company to finally break even in March, nearly a year after the coronavirus pandemic devastated demand for air travel across North America in spring 2020.

As well as restarting nine routes, the carrier will begin a new service between Seattle and London Heathrow.

U.S. airlines are seeing an elongation of the booking curve, a sign that air travel may finally be starting to return to something resembling normalcy.

Airline executives indicate the US industry could be nearing pre-COVID traffic levels later this year.

The carrier expects to offer around 52,000 weekly seats to and from Alaska this summer—an increase of almost 50% on two years ago.

U.S. federal lawmakers are sending airlines another $14 billion to prop up payrolls until Sept. 30, which they hope will see the industry through to recovery.

American Airlines announced plans to mortgage its frequent-flier program to pay off a $7.5 billion government loan accepted in 2020 as part of the CARES Act.

The US industry is optimistic air traffic is headed for a rebound.

Delta Air Lines said it will budget more than $30 million to offset 13 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in the last 10 months of 2020.

Delta Air Lines said it plans to return all pilots to active status by October, signaling a faster-than-expected timeline for demand recovery.

The airlines are still awaiting approval from the US and Chile.

Delta Air Lines and LATAM Airlines Group received final approval from the Brazilian Government to implement their planned joint venture (JV) between North America and Brazil.

The daily regional service from Birmingham will allow passengers to connect to Delta’s international network via its DTW hub.

A group of major U.S. carriers announced plans to implement voluntary contract tracing for international arrivals, part of a Biden administration effort to better track and contain the spread of COVID-19 through commercial air travel.

The carrier believes it is prudent to retain a certain level of flexibility during the industry’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

The carrier has revived plans to add flights between West Africa and the US.

The carrier is the last remaining US airline to intentionally keep capacity down on most of its routes.

Delta Air Lines will continue blocking off middle seats through at least April 30, extending a popular policy the company hopes will differentiate it as a more premium airline brand.

Routes’ latest infographic looks at the current state of the world’s aviation market as capacity continues to fall.

Rwanda’s flag-carrier RwandAir is seeking permission to launch flights to New York later in 2021 with a one-stop route operating via Ghana

The US carrier is adding flights on five domestic leisure routes from its two hubs in New York.