Aug. 21--Delta Air Lines, which has spent much of the last two years rolling out new international flights from Sea-Tac Airport is adding two more international destinations, Hong Kong and Seoul.
At the same time the airline cutting back some of its international flights as wintertime nears.
The Atlanta-based carrier plans to begin flying non-stop to Seoul June 2 and non-stop to Hong Kong beginning June 16 pending government approval.
"By offering new service from Seattle to Seoul and Hong Kong, Delta will now offer customers service to the top five destinations in Asia," said Mike Medeiros, Delta's vice president -- Seattle. "Our expanding Seattle network, combined with investments in our aircraft, the airport and the community shows our commitment to become Seattle's premier international carrier.", he said.
Delta is also adjust its Sea-Tac international schedules to reflect passenger demand. The airline, for instance, is canceling Seattle-Osaka, Japan service beginning Nov. 4. In the past, Delta had reduced the frequency of its service to Osaka in the winter, but this year, the airline is ending it entirely with no sign that the flight will resume next spring.
Delta is also trimming back the frequency of service from Sea-Tac to Shanghai from daily to five weekly effective Oct. 26. The airline, however, is substituting the slightly larger Airbus A330-200 for the Boeing 767-300ER that now serves the route.
And the airline is operating its newest international flight from Sea-Tac to Tokyo's Haneda Airport from the present daily flights to four or five flights weekly beginning Sept. 29.
Delta originally had operated the Haneda flight from Detroit, but moved it to Sea-Tac.
Haneda is much closer to Tokyo than Narita Airport where most international flights to the Japanese capital land. Delta itself has a flight to Narita from Sea-Tac as does United Airlines and Japan's All Nippon Airways.
Delta has asked the Japanese government to open up more landing slots at Haneda so that Delta can create an Asian hub there.
Until recently, Haneda was reserved for domestic flights. Some international carriers have been granted access to the close-in airport, but at inconvenient hours.
Delta still plans to begin flying to London from Sea-Tac next spring. The airline also connects Sea-Tac non-stop to Paris, Bejing and Amsterdam.
In recent years, the airport has greatly increased its repertoire of international flights. In addition to Paris, Amsterdam and London, airlines now fly from Sea-Tac to Frankfurt and Rekjavik in Iceland.
Sea-Tac's Asian destinations include Tokyo, Bejing, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul and Hong Kong beginning next summer.
Emirates also flies from Sea-Tac to Dubai in the Mideast.
Copyright 2013 - The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)
