Delta Air Lines’ Growing Africa Network: What To Expect Onboard

My first flight to the US from South Africa was just over 20 years ago. Back then, South African Airways had a codeshare agreement with Delta Air Lines

and flew one of its Boeing 747-400s on the 17-hour flight from Johannesburg to Delta’s megahub in Atlanta, and then back home via Fort Lauderdale.

Then in 2006, everything changed when South African Airways joined the Star Alliance

, and it broke off its agreement with Delta. But the SkyTeam

airline now knew from its codeshare ticket sales that South Africa was a sought-after destination, and immediately started flying to Cape Town and Johannesburg from Atlanta and New York JFK.

It initially utilized its Boeing 767-300ERs, which would depart from the two US cities and converge on Dakar at the same time for a refueling stop. Passengers could change aircraft depending on their chosen destination city in South Africa, and the same arrangement worked on the return legs. Eventually, Delta shifted to using its Boeing 777-200LRs, which could cover the 8,000+ mile distances without refueling.

Nearly two decades of flying to Africa

Delta has been flying to Africa for nearly two decades. Shortly after inaugurating the routes to South Africa, it began flying to Accra in Ghana from JFK, and Lagos in Nigeria from both JFK and ATL. The routes to Johannesburg and Cape Town now operate exclusively from Atlanta with Delta’s A350-900 flagship, and the airline also added direct flights to Dakar in Senegal from JFK. So currently, Delta operates a total of six different routes to Africa.

New Africa routes later this year

This is about to change, as Delta announced last week that it will be adding two new routes to Africa later this year. These are:

Marrakech: Delta will begin operating a three-times-weekly service from Atlanta to Marrakech, the top tourist destination in Morroco, from October 25. This is a new route for Delta, and it will utilize its Boeing 767-400ERs on the transatlantic trip.

Accra: Delta already serves Accra daily from New York JFK, but will be adding daily service from Atlanta on December 1 utilizing an Airbus A330-900. This is currently billed as a seasonal service, but given the longevity of the JFK connection, has every potential to become a fixed service.

Speaking about the new routes, Paul Baldoni, senior vice president of network planning at Delta said the following

“Our new service to Marrakech and added flights to Accra strengthen our presence in Africa, offering more opportunities for customers to enjoy our award-winning service and premium onboard experience. Whether discovering the magic of Morocco or reconnecting with loved ones in Ghana, these routes enhance our network while reinforcing Atlanta’s role as the world’s largest global hub.”

So by the end of this year, Delta will be operating these eight routes from the US to Africa:

Adjustments to the South Africa routes

Delta is also looking to make adjustments to its South African routes. It currently flies to Johannesburg daily and Cape Town three times a week, and while it would certainly like to add more flights to the Rainbow Nation, that is unlikely in the short term and it is restricted to sharing the available slots that have been negotiated between the two countries with United Airlines.

Instead, it is petitioning the US Department of Transportation for flexibility on its route schedule to account for seasonality. The tourist destination of Cape Town is a more popular route during the Southern Hemisphere summer months, and Johannesburg is more popular the rest of the year. Delta would, therefore, like to shift two of its Johannesburg flights to Cape Town to account for this seasonal demand.

What to expect onboard a Delta flight to Africa

With Delta flying five different aircraft types to Africa, let’s take a closer look at what you can expect onboard, and how this will vary from route to route. Delta currently utilizes a four-class layout on most of its widebody international flights, which is made up of the following:

Delta One: The business class cabin has Thompson Vantage XL seats that are arranged in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration, and convert into a 76″ long fully flat bed. The seat width is 20″ and each has an 18.5″ touchscreen display, adjustable privacy screens, and extended console offering additional counter space and low-level storage. On some aircraft, a self-service bar is also located at the back of the business-class cabin.

Delta Premium Select: The premium economy cabin has Collins MiQ ‘lounger’ seats, each with a 13.3″ touchscreen display, retractable leg rest, a seat width of 19″, a recline of 7”, and a row pitch of 38″.

Delta Comfort+: Delta offers enhanced Recaro CL3710 seats located at the front of the Economy cabin with greater recline and row pitch. Each seat has a 10.1″ touchscreen display, a seat width of 18″, a recline of 7”, and a row pitch of 34″.

Delta Economy: Recaro CL3710 seats with a 10.1″ touchscreen display, a seat width of 18″, a recline of 4”, and a row pitch of 32″.

All four of these cabin classes are available on all flights to Africa, so there is a consistent experience no matter which route you fly. However, depending on the aircraft utilized, the number of seats in each class, and the configuration of those seats might vary. The table below summarizes what you can expect, depending on the aircraft that is assigned to your chosen route.

A note about the changing A350 configurations

It is worth noting that the ‘standard’ layout for Delta’s A350s delivered directly from Airbus has been with 306 seats with 32 in business and 48 in premium economy. However, it also operates nine additional A350s that it obtained via an agreement with LATAM when it acquired a 20% equity stake in the South American airline in 2019. These aircraft have a denser configuration with 339 seats, a different business class product, and no premium economy cabin.

Delta is addressing this with an extensive retrofit of its A350 fleet, which will create a consistent layout across its existing aircraft as well as new deliveries of the -900s. The new-look A350 configuration (called the 35H) is more premium-heavy, with total seats reduced to 275, and two additional rows are added to Delta One (taking it to 40 seats). The first of these A350s have been applied to the South African routes.

However, expect this all to change again next year when Delta starts taking delivery of its new A350-1000s. It is widely expected that aside from new routes to India and Saudi Arabia, Delta will use the larger -1000s to up-gauge its high-demand routes to Cape Town and Johannesburg. Being seven meters longer than the -900s currently in use, this provides space for 40-50 more seats and offers up to 40% more floor space for premium cabins.

The other airlines connecting the US and Africa

Of course, Delta is not the only airline flying between the US and Africa. United Airlines

is a fierce rival with Delta for the limited slots to South Africa and also serves similar destinations across the rest of the continent. However, with 25 weekly flights to Africa, its route network is smaller than Delta’s 41 weekly flights. The destinations it serves include the following:

Accra: 5 x weekly from Washington DC with a B787-8

Cape Town: 3 x weekly from both Newark and Washington DC with a B787-9

Johannesburg: Daily from Newark with a B787-9

Lagos: 4 x weekly from Washington DC with a B787-8

Marrakech: 3 x weekly from Newark with a B767-300E

By contrast, American Airlines

doesn’t currently have any routes to Africa. The closest it came was a 2019 announcement of a three-times-weekly route from its Philadelphia hub to Casablanca using a Boeing 757, but this never materialized as the pandemic hit before the first flight.

There are also some notable African airlines that have routes to the US, including the following:

Ethiopian Airlines: Has the most interesting route network to the US. It flies directly from Addis Ababa to Chicago, Newark, Washington DC, and Atlanta using its A350 and B787 fleets. It also has fifth-freedom routes connecting Abidjan and Lome to New York JFK and Lome to Washington DC

Egyptair: Flies from Cairo to New York JFK, Newark, and Washington DC using a mix of B777-300ERs and B787-9s.

Kenya Airways: Flies from Nairobi to New York JFK using a B787-8

Royal Air Maroc: Flies from Casablanca to New York JFK, Washington DC, and Miami using its B787-8s and -9s.