Delta Air Lines is set to operate its fleet of 16 Boeing 757-300 aircraft on over 25 routes during the northern hemisphere aviation summer, stretching from March 30 to October 25. None of these flights will be international. “Atlanta to Los Angeles is number one,” according to reports, with a significant increase in the number of flights using this aircraft type compared to the previous year.
Delta is the second-largest operator of the Boeing 757-300, possessing 16 of the total 55 aircraft that were produced. The airline’s 757-300s are awaiting refurbishment and scheduled for limited use across several routes throughout the summer season. Some of these flights will be one-off occurrences, such as Tampa to Minneapolis and Fort Myers to Atlanta on April 14 and Minneapolis to Las Vegas, plus Salt Lake City on May 6.
Atlanta, Delta’s busiest hub, will handle the majority of these operations with 62% of the high-capacity aircraft’s trips scheduled to depart from or arrive at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The maximum daily movements at Atlanta, as of data from April 3, are expected to be 48 on select dates in May and June, surpassing the previous record of 47 set in June 2022.
Various routes are projected to experience increased activity in May compared to 2024. Still, fewer flights are scheduled between July and September, with some aircraft instead flying from Minneapolis. Conversely, Detroit is not expected to have any 757-300 flights during June, July, and August, with a decreased number in September.
Delta’s 757-300s, which are on average 22.1 years old, were inherited from Northwest Airlines and have a three-class seating arrangement with a total of 234 seats. The aircraft are highly valued for their high capacity and low seat-mile costs, making them suitable for leisure, hub-to-hub, and other high-density routes.
