Delta Air Lines has increased Los Angeles to Sydney flights this northern winter to double daily. It was to be 10 weekly but will now rise to its highest level to date. It is one of four carriers on the 7,488-mile (12,051 km) airport pair.

Delta increases Sydney to double daily 

Taking effect in mid-December, the peak summer Down Under and in time for Christmas, the route will exclusively use the Airbus A350-900.

According to OAG schedules supplied by Delta, the 306-seat aircraft will be deployed. These have four classes: 32 Delta One seats, 48 Premium Select, 36 Comfort+, and 190 in Main Cabin.

Image: GCMap.

The schedule is as follows, with all times local:

• Los Angeles to Sydney: DL43, 20:35-06:50+2; DL41, 22:10-08:20+2
• Sydney to Los Angeles: DL40, 11:25-06:05 (same day); DL42, 14:15-09:05

Click here for Los Angeles-Sydney flights.

185,000 passengers 2019

Delta launched Sydney in 2009. A decade later, in 2019, Delta carried some 185,000 passengers on the route, according to US T-100 available from the Department of Transportation. It achieved a seat load factor of 88%.

Relating this to booking data estimates that about 59% of Sydney passengers transited Delta's Los Angeles hub, a fifth were point-to-point, 15% 'bridged' both Los Angeles and Sydney (e.g., JFK-Los Angeles-Sydney-Melbourne), and 6% transited Sydney to/from Los Angeles.

The latter two revolved around Delta's partnership with Virgin Australia, which ended last year. With higher-than-ever frequencies and more seats to fill, the lack of a codeshare partner has clearly not dented Delta's confidence.

That makes 36 weekly flights

As of June 12th and subject to change, Los Angeles-Sydney will have 36 weekly January flights (five to six daily), as summarized below. This is more or less the same as in January 2019 and 2020. Of course, Virgin Australia then operated long-haul.

• Delta: double daily (a record); A350
• Qantas: eight weekly; A380, 787-9
• United: daily; 787-9
• American: daily; 787-9

On an example day, January 15th, flights will depart Los Angeles at 20:40 (Delta), 22:10 (Delta), 22:25 (American), 22:30 (Qantas), and 22:55 (United). That same day, they will leave Sydney at 11:15 (American), 11:25 (Delta), 11:30 (Qantas), 11:50 (United), 14:15 (Delta), and 21:25 (Qantas).

Two Delta routes Down Under

Los Angeles-Sydney will be joined by a second route this coming northern winter. On October 28th, Delta will launch Los Angeles-Auckland. Served daily, it too will use the A350-900.

On December 21st, in time for Christmas, American will join the fray with a daily 787-9 operation. It last served the 6,504-mile (10,467 km) market in March 2020.

Click here for Los Angeles-Auckland flights.

When both new routes are operational, non-stop Los Angeles-Auckland flights will be by four carriers, with Air New Zealand and United also running. In all, there will be 28 weekly departures, up from 21 in northern winter 2019 and the highest yet.