Delta unveils 12 new and expanded transatlantic routes as part of largest-ever summer schedule
Delta Air Lines wants to take you to Europe next summer.
The Atlanta-based carrier unveiled on Friday its transatlantic schedule for summer 2025, and it includes six new routes, an exciting new destination and expanded service to some of the most popular markets across Europe.
There’s lots to get excited about, especially if you’re planning a big European vacation next year. Read on for all the details.
7 new routes, 1 new destination
Headlining the announcement is the addition of six new routes, including one brand-new destination. All of the routes begin in May 2025, and we’ll update the story with the exact start dates once they’re confirmed.
- Atlanta to Brussels, three times weekly
- Atlanta to Naples, four times weekly
- Boston to Barcelona, three times weekly
- Boston to Milan, four times weekly
- Detroit to Dublin, four times weekly
- Minneapolis-St. Paul to Rome, four times weekly
- New York to Catania, daily
Delta already serves five of the six aforementioned markets with service from other domestic hubs, but the new service to Catania on the east coast of Sicily is an intriguing new addition (and likely to be popular among White Lotus fans) heading to this region. That’s especially true since there hasn’t historically been a nonstop flight from the U.S. to this island.
Overall, Delta thinks that travelers will want to visit Italy next summer. Four of the six new routes are to Italy, and the airline even marketed its all-in-one Italian vacation packages as a headline in the Friday announcement.
Furthermore, this past summer, Delta launched new service to Naples with flights from New York, and just a year later, the airline is back with its second route to Naples — this time, from Atlanta.
Delta will be the largest U.S. carrier in the Italian market next summer, offering 10% more service than this year. (Interestingly, the route from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Rome is technically a resumption, as the carrier last served the market in the summer of 2016, Cirium schedules show.)
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Other interesting additions include the two new services from Boston — a hub that Delta has tried to fortify in recent years against JetBlue and other incumbents. Even though Delta’s New York hub is the carrier’s primary Northeast transatlantic gateway, it still offers service to top nonstop destinations from Boston that appeal to both locals and others who want to connect in Boston to avoid the what can be a busy and delay-prone New York airspace that sees frequent ground-delay programs.
In addition, Milan is Boston’s largest unserved European market, so the new Delta service could appeal to travelers in the local market. Meanwhile, the Boston-to-Barcelona route is already served by Iberia.
Delta’s new flight from Detroit to Dublin will complement the airline’s existing service to the Irish capital from four other U.S. hubs: Atlanta, Boston, New York-JFK, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
5 expanded routes
In addition to the new routes, Delta is also boosting existing service on five transatlantic routes next summer, including:
- Atlanta to Athens: 11 weekly flights
- Atlanta to Barcelona: 10 weekly flights
- Atlanta to Rome: 17 weekly flights
- Atlanta to Zurich: daily service
- Detroit to Munich: daily service
It’s likely no surprise that four of the five expanded routes originate at Delta’s mega-hub in Atlanta. The airline continues to succeed at the world’s busiest airport, and these additional frequencies should help it attract even more local and connecting passengers through the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).
“With over 700 weekly flights to 33 European destinations and beyond, we’re expanding access to key cities like Barcelona and Dublin with new routes, while introducing our first-ever nonstop service to Catania, Sicily,” said Joe Esposito, Delta’s senior vice president of network planning, in a statement.
1 route cut
One route from the summer 2024 schedule will be cut next year. This three-times-weekly service from New York to Munich will be slashed to make room for the new Detroit to Munich route.
Delta confirmed the cut with the following statement, “Delta is adjusting its summer 2025 schedule to meet demand by canceling the three-times-weekly JFK-Munich service and reallocating those frequencies to offer daily flights between Detroit and Munich.”
Notably, this is Delta’s latest adjustment in Germany after just recently slashing flights from Atlanta to Stuttgart.
Bottom line
Delta’s big European expansion for summer 2025 comes just two weeks after American Airlines announced its own transatlantic schedule for next summer.
Like American, Delta is expanding in southern Europe, with more flights to Italy and Greece than ever before. These destinations have proven resilient summer after summer, and the airlines seemingly think that demand for nonstop service will only increase.
It’s especially exciting for Delta customers to see the airline add an all-new route-map pin in Catania, a destination that previously required a stop in a major European hub on the way from the U.S.
Though Delta has historically focused on boosting European routes to key partner hubs in London, Amsterdam and Paris, next summer is shaping up be another blockbuster one. There will be more flights than ever to popular destinations teeming with tourists.
And now that American and Delta have announced their big summer schedules, it’ll be interesting to see what United and its creative network planning team have up their sleeve — that announcement is expected in the next few weeks.
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