Delta Air Lines plans to finally return its Atlanta hub to pre-pandemic flight capacity in 2025, five years after COVID-19 forced airlines to slash flights as travel plummeted.
Friday’s announcement is a milestone not only for Delta but its hometown of Atlanta. The airline industry has been buffeted by the coronavirus pandemic, which first forced carriers to cut flights, park planes, reduce staff and accept government rescue funding. Then came an uneven and at times bumpy recovery — marred by supply chain issues, continued challenges with the virus, but also massive pent up demand.
Delta is increasing its domestic and international flight schedules for the busy summer season of 2025, including adding flights from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to Naples, Italy, and Brussels, as well as more flights to airports across Georgia. That will amount to its largest-ever flight schedule from Atlanta, the carrier said.
At Hartsfield-Jackson, Delta operates the world’s largest airline hub. The hub not only serves the travel needs of Atlantans and those who come here for business or leisure, but it’s a huge domestic and global connection point for passengers within the United States and traveling between the U.S. and Europe, Latin America and other regions.
As of next summer, Delta says it will fly 968 daily flights from Atlanta to 215 cities, amounting to nearly 1.1 million seats on planes taking off each week. That’s a year-over-year increase of nearly 75 daily departures.