Delta introduces nonstop travel between LA and Heathrow

Delta Air Lines customers will be able to start booking nonstop travel between Los Angeles International Airport LAX and London’s Heathrow Airport later this week as a result of a joint venture agreement signed between Delta and Air France in October.

That agreement will make it possible for the two airlines to share both costs and revenues on trans-Atlantic flights beginning in April 2008. The flight, which will be operated by Air France, will begin operating on March 30 from Los Angeles and from London on March 31.

With the new Los Angeles route, Delta will offer customers service on four daily Heathrow flights beginning March: twice daily from New York-JFK, once daily from Atlanta and once daily from Los Angeles. All Heathrow service from Atlanta and New York-JFK will be operated by Delta while service between Los Angeles and Heathrow will be operated by Air France. Each of the flights will be operated on a codeshare basis ensuring that Delta and Air France customers can earn reciprocal frequent flyer miles on either carrier’s flights.

“Access to London’s Heathrow Airport has long been in the top of Delta’s list of priorities and we are pleased to offer our customers access to the world’s largest trans-Atlantic market from three of our U.S. gateways beginning in 2008,” said Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s executive vice president – Network Planning and Revenue Management.

Passengers on the Los Angeles to London-Heathrow flight will travel on an Air France Boeing 777 aircraft featuring First (Espace Premiere), Business (Espace Affaires) and Economy (Tempo) classes. Flights from Atlanta and New York-JFK will be operated by Delta with Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft featuring both award-winning BusinessElite and Economy class service.

In addition to service to London-Heathrow, Delta will continue flights to London’s Gatwick airport in 2008 with four daily flights from Atlanta, Cincinnati and New York’s JFK. In total, Delta will offer customers eight daily flights between London and the United States – three to New York, three to Atlanta, one to Cincinnati and one to Los Angeles (operated by Air France).

Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes and check flight status at delta.com.