Amsterdam will be the first trans-Atlantic destination to see the Delta Air Lines’ Airbus A350 aircraft as it uses the next generation aircraft to take on up-market competitors.
The airline will start flying Amsterdam-Detroit from March 31, 2018 and will also deploy its flagship A350-900 between Detroit and China’s Shanghai from April 19.
Read: Delta shakes up trans-Atlantic routes.
This will bring to five the number of international routes Delta will operate from Detroit using the new aircraft.
The US carrier’s first aircraft is scheduled to enter service from Detroit to Tokyo-Narita on Oct. 30, to Seoul, Korea, on November 18 and Beijing on January 17. It will also fly the plane from its Atlanta hub to Seoul.
The A350 is being hailed by Delta chief executive Ed Bastian as a significant step forward for the international competitiveness of the airline’s product and service.
Delta has 25 A350-900s on order and plans to take 15 by 2019. Like its Boeing competitor, the A350 features better lighting as well as soptimised cabin pressure, temperature and humidity to help customers cope better with long-haul flights.
However, the airline said earlier this year it would delay taking 10 of the 25 planes due to be delivered in 2019-20 by two to three years.
US airlines over the years have developed a reputation for offering an inferior traveller experience to their Asia-Pacific competitors and Bastian cited airlines such as Qantas and SIngapore Airlines as the carriers to beat.
Neither of these airlines are standing still: Qantas has just taken delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 armed with the latest seats and Singapore is set to unveil new product at the start of next month.
But Delta, the North American launch carrier for the A350, is gearing up to do battle with its new 306-seat flagship.
At the pointy end of Delta’s new A350 is the striking Delta One Suite, which won a Crystal Cabin Award for cabin concepts earlier this year.
This offers 32 premium customers their own private suite with a full-height door, direct aisle access, a fully flat bed, increased stowage, bigger video screens and memory foam enhanced cushions. The seats are 22 to 24 inches wide (55-60cm) and convert into a 76 to 81-inch (193-05cm) bed.
The airline will also next year give passengers the option to pre-select meals, a facility already available on a number of competitors.
Delta’s premium economy class has 48 18.5-inch (47cm) wide seats with 38 inches (96.5cm) of seat pitch as well as an extended 7-inch (17.8cm) recline and footrests. Premium economy customers get perks such as priority check-in, enhanced meal service, upgraded pillows, blankets and amenity kits.
The 226 seats in the main cabin are 18 inches wide (46cm) with a 31-32 inch (79-81cm) seat pitch. The cabin features free seat-back entertainment on high definition screens, in-seat power ports at every row and high- capacity overhead bins.
Delta recently announced it was upgrading its main cabin meal service on longer flights with improvements that begin rolling out next month and continue into 2018.
This includes customer experience menu cards, which will include information on timing for each service and details on the inflight food and beverage offerings, as well as new main cabin cutlery.
Upgraded meals and new serviceware on long-haul international flights are expected in mid-2018.
