Delta Approved for New European Flights

Delta Air Lines Inc. said Friday that it received the final U.S. approval needed to begin nonstop service on 11 routes to Europe and the Middle East, as U.S. carriers add international flights amid heightened competition at home.

The approval was for five nonstop flights a week to Kiev, Ukraine, from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, which will start June 5 and are subject to Ukrainian government approval, company spokesman Benet Wilson said.

Delta, the No. 3 U.S. airline, also plans to add service pending foreign government approvals from the New York airport to Budapest; Dublin; and Shannon, Ireland, Wilson said. From Atlanta, the carrier plans to add flights to Athens; Copenhagen; Dusseldorf, Germany; Edinburgh; Nice, France; Tel Aviv; and Venice, Italy, also subject to foreign government approvals.

U.S. airlines have been expanding international service as competition from discounters such as Southwest Airlines Co. holds down domestic fares. Atlanta-based Delta, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September after fuel prices rose to record highs, increased seat and flight capacity 12 percent last year for international service and 1 percent in the U.S.

Delta also is starting flights from Kennedy to Manchester, U.K., for which it already had government approvals, Wilson said. The airline plans to add the new service to Europe and the Mideast by the U.S. summer season. Delta has said the expansion will make it the largest trans-Atlantic carrier.

Delta announced the Kiev route approval Friday. The government previously approved starting up the other 10 routes, the carrier said.

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