Delta plans major JFK expansion

New York’s JFK airport will benefit from a major expansion by Delta, the airport’s largest global carrier. Nine of the new routes are not served by any other U.S. airline from JFK.

Delta’s new destinations include nine trans-Atlantic routes: Tel Aviv, Israel (March 10); Edinburgh, Scotland (May 1); Dakar, Senegal (June 2); Nairobi, Kenya (via Dakar, June 2); Cape Town, South Africa (via Dakar, June 3); Cairo, Egypt (June 4); Malaga, Spain (June 4); Amman, Jordan (June 5); and Lagos, Nigeria (June 9); and five cities in Latin America: Panama City, Panama (December 13); Guatemala City, Guatemala (December 14); Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (December 20); San Jose, Costa Rica (February 15); and Liberia, Costa Rica (February 16).

It may seem an unusual time for Delta to announce a big JFK expansion, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently announced its intention to intervene at JFK in an attempt to reduce delays and congestion at the airport, which has the worst on-time arrival record of any major airport in the U.S. However, Delta will introduce “a strategic plan to help alleviate chronic delays and congestion before another peak-summer travel season,” says its CEO Richard Anderson.

Specifically, Delta will decrease departures during the afternoon rush hour, reduce hourly departures by six percent during peak hours, and “[optimize] connecting times.” Delta claims its changes “will offer a more than 20 percent increase in available seat miles by summer 2008, with only 11 more daily departures.”