On Monday morning, Delta Air lines announced a new nonstop route between Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and Lisbon, Portugal International Airport (LIS). The new seasonal route will launch on May 23rd, 2019 and will be serviced by a Boeing 757 aircraft. The aircraft will be equipped with 20 Delta Premium Select seats, 29 Comfort+ seats and 150 seats in the main cabin.
This new route will be seasonal, and will operate from May 23rd through September 3rd, 2019 on the following schedule:
“Delta has significantly grown Boston's direct access to the world in the past five years, including popular tourism destinations like Dublin and now Lisbon, as well as flights to major international hubs offering onward travel to hundreds more destinations,” said Delta's Roberto Ioriatti, Vice President — Trans-Atlantic. “This will be an excellent addition to the many options for nonstop international travel available to Delta customers at Logan International Airport.”
Our Analysis
As we say with all new routes, more competition only bodes well for travelers as it should ultimately drive prices down. However, this really won't be considered a new route. Delta currently operates seasonal service from Atlanta to Lisbon, which will not be continuing once this route launches in 2019.
Delta operated the Atlanta to Lisbon seasonal service on a Boeing 767 (which ended on 9/4/18). The 767 is a wide-body, double-aisle aircraft. Moving the seasonal service to Boston, they can now use a smaller aircraft like the single-aisle 757, which will likely improve their efficiency and load capacity. This ultimately bodes well if you're a New England based traveler.
Bottom Line
While this isn't technically a new route, it is great news if you reside in the New England area. Transatlantic fares have been incredibly cheap over the past few years, and new routes like this from mainline carriers will only add fuel to that fire.
Lead photo credit: Chris Lundberg via Flickr