Delta Resuming Los Angeles-Hong Kong Flights

Intro

Official reports have come out across the web stating that Delta is planning to double down on competing with United in Los Angeles (LAX). Over the past few years, Delta has significantly cut its route network from Los Angeles, whether that be to Tahiti or London, but going forward, Delta will begin to serve its longest route to Asia from LAX.

The Details

Starting June 6th, 2025, Delta Airline will be resuming its Los Angeles to Hong Kong route, and this time it will be operated by an A350-900 featuring 40 business class seats, 40 premium economy seats, and 195 economy seats.

This Delta route will feature a whopping 40 Delta One Suites onboard.

Interestingly, at this time, the route has to be scheduled and is also not for sale. However, I would have to imagine that this route will operate Westbound on the double redeye, and depart Hong Kong around 8-9 am, landing in LAX at 6-7 am.

Pure speculation, but it would make sense for business travelers and those connecting.

Honestly: A Little Late To The Game

For starters, I am not a route network planner, nor am I someone who works for an airline 😅. However, I have to wonder what the motive here is behind Delta adding this route, especially with how profitable the airline is. Here are a few things that stand out to me:

• Even United struggles to fill loads to all over China in premium cabins, and especially Hong Kong. I track the loads for each flight quite consistently and there has to be another underlying factor for UA such as cargo here.

• There are already 5 daily flights between Hong Kong and LAX, both of which have interline agreements between United and Cathay Pacific. How does Delta plan to sell connecting traffic here?

• If they really wanted to launch flights to Hong Kong, why not from Seattle? Delta has talked about ramping up the Seattle hub after Alaska had wanted to take over, and with no daily service, there would be a monopoly in the market.

All this to say, this is great news for consumers, as it's another airline adding an option to Hong Kong. With fares already quite low, perhaps this could drive them even lower.

Final Thoughts

As of next June, Delta will begin serving daily nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Hong Kong with an A350-900. To me, it doesn't make much sense about why they are LAX, but considering they are additionally adding LAX-ORD flights around the same time, it seems LAX is once again a focal point.

Now just bring back London...