Demand for Italy keeps ramping up and airlines are following suit with more routes to smaller cities to which travelers would have previously had to take the train or fly through a transfer with a regional airline.
Earlier this month, Delta Air Lines (DAL) flew its inaugural flight between New York's JFK International Airport and Italy's Naples-Capodichino International Airport. The southern city known for both ancient and modern history and that many pass through as a gateway to the Amalfi Coast is the fourth Italian airport to which Delta flies from the U.S (Rome, Milan and Venice would be the others). The new seasonal route has been in the works for nearly a year after Delta announced it in September 2023.
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The flight is now running daily on a Boeing 767-300ER (BA) until October and brings Delta's network to 14 daily flights to Italy from different U.S. cities during the summer travel peak. It is also the only U.S. carrier to fly to Naples from JFK — United Airlines (UAL) offers direct flights from cities like Chicago and Houston while American Airlines (AAL) recently launched a route from Philadelphia.
Delta has started running the new route to an ancient Italian city
"For the first time, Delta will connect customers with nonstop service from JFK to the ancient city of Naples, Italy – the gateway to the Amalfi coast and popular sites like Mount Vesuvius. Delta’s new daily service to Naples — beginning May 23, 2024 — complements the airline's existing service to Milan, Venice and Rome," Delta said when it announced the route.
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Earlier this year, Delta has made another major investment in Italy by restarting routes between JFK and Venice's Marco Polo International Airport while also launching two new flights to the city from Atlanta. The JFK flight will run on a 216-seat Boeing 767-300 plane while all three routes will stop in the fall as travel between the U.S. and Italy (and smaller cities in particular) is highest in the summer.
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"As one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Venice is hugely popular with U.S. travelers, and our flights bring valuable tourism and trade opportunities to the city and the region as well as unrivaled opportunities for Venetians looking to explore destinations across the Americas," Delta's SVP for Europe Matteo Curcio said in a statement. “We're glad to offer customers increased choice this summer with flights from New York and additional service from Atlanta."
All of this comes down to the fact that over six million Americans visited Italy in 2023 while the numbers are only expected to be higher by the time this year's summer season is over.
But as multiple airlines move to meet this need, others have been finding opportunities in more overlooked areas. Delta recently also launched new routes to South Africa and Ghana while low-cost airline Norse Atlantic announced that it was challenging the existing duopoly of travelers having to pick between either British Airways and South African Airways with a flashy new London-Cape Town route for half the price of a mainstream carrier.
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