News
Delta pulls out of Taiwan
January 20th 2017
Delta Air Lines will terminate its flights to Taiwan from May 24. The carrier has yet to make a formal announcement of its decision after notifying local travel agents of the decision last week. Read More »
The U.S. carrier flies daily between Seattle-Tokyo (Narita)-Taipei, but increased direct connectivity on Taiwanese carriers China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Airways have rendered its own flights superfluous. CAL and EVA fly to more than 10 U.S. ports nonstop, while the Tokyo-Taipei market is under the firm grip of low-cost operators, Peach Aviation, Jetstar Japan and Tigerair Taiwan.
Delta has been curtailing its Asia operations for some time. In August last year, it announced the termination of its JFK-Narita, Narita-Osaka and Narita-Bangkok services and ended operations to Manila. Unlike its U.S. rivals, American Airlines and United Airlines, Delta lacks a strong Southeast Asian alliance partner.
In the second half of 2016, Delta and fellow SkyTeam associate, Korean Air, reset their previously frosty relationship with the U.S. airline looking to reroute more of its passengers via Incheon where they can connect on to Korean Air flights.
The Atlanta-headquartered airline has reported a net profit of $4.4 billion for 2016, down marginally from $4.5 billion a year earlier, as it faces pressures from higher fuel costs. Last November, the Ed Bastian-led carrier announced a 6% salary increment for all ground workers and flight attendants from April.
