urbanMSP

I would think we will get competing Delta service to Dublin announced real soon

I would think we will get competing Delta service to Dublin announced real soon

I disagree. Delta already flies MSP-LHR. That route has a lot more demand than MSP-DUB. All the travel bloggers were quite shocked that Aer Lingus is coming here in the first place. We'll probably see Delta fighting off Aer Lingus through fare wars. A win for us consumers!

Yep, much easier to simply lowball MSP-DUB itineraries connecting through AMS or CDG.

I would agree except for the MSP-KEF route is still going to compete with Icelandair, and Delta doesn't even fly to Reykjavik from Atlanta -- that route seems to be just defending turf. However, we shall see soon enough! Delta hasn't responded to Condor and started a Germany flight, so maybe this will fall into the latter category.

I don't think DL MSP-KEF is "defending turf" -- Icelandair flew it for a decade or two before Delta picked up the route. And Icelandair often flies two flights a day from MSP. Iceland has grown significantly as a vacation destination over the last 3-5 years, and Delta serves that traffic connecting over their MSP and JFK hubs. My guess is that those two hubs are chosen since they support the widest array of connecting flows across the U.S. with the most efficient use of a narrowbody aircraft to KEF.

https://news.delta.com/delta-proposes-m ... begin-2020

Delta proposing MSP-Shanghai with A350-900 aircraft.

Assuming this and Seoul happen we would have two Transpacific routes (three if Delta holds on to MSP-Haneda). Last time we had more than one Transpacific route was two decades ago when Northwest flew MSP-Osaka and MSP-Hong Kong for a very brief period.

I think this is really exciting I read about this on airliners.net.
Someone there did ask about the correctness of the release stating that this would be MSP’s first nonstop to China when NWA flew to Hong Kong in the past. I would guess that the previous flight occurred before the UK returned Hong Kong to China?

MSP-HKG was operated in 1999, so this was after the UK returned Hong Kong to China.

Funnily enough the service started after the handover. However, air services is one of the areas that Hong Kong essentially retains jurisdiction over, and they have more liberal rules than the mainland (not hard). Because of this a lot of airlines talk separately about HK and mainland China service.

https://www.deltamuseum.org/exhibits/de ... ades/1990s
https://www.doj.gov.hk/eng/laws/treaties.html

Assuming this and Seoul happen we would have two Transpacific routes (three if Delta holds on to MSP-Haneda).

Oh, Seoul is happening. I already have a direct Delta MSP-ICN ticket booked next September.

Exiled, thank you for the correction. My bad lol

Assuming this and Seoul happen we would have two Transpacific routes (three if Delta holds on to MSP-Haneda).

Oh, Seoul is happening. I already have a direct Delta MSP-ICN ticket booked next September.

Well, there’s always a chance they cancel it due to low bookings, or cut it after only a short period of operation. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen.

Just for fun (?), I made some maps of destinations from MSP on Great Circle Mapper. Data comes from wikipedia. Some destinations are seasonal, less than daily, etc...

Here are flights outside the Lower 48 states, including future service and the not-100%-sure-thing service to Shanghai:

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=MSP-ICN%2C ... =wls&DU=mi

And here is service in the Lower 48:

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=MSP-FOD%2C ... =wls&DU=mi

Fun Fact, MSP has service to 43 of the 49 states with airline service (poor Delaware)

We need a flight to India/Bangladesh to nail that polar route.

Poor Wilmington, DE only has Northeast Corridor trains every few minutes.

Just for fun (?), I made some maps of destinations from MSP on Great Circle Mapper. Data comes from wikipedia. Some destinations are seasonal, less than daily, etc...

Here are flights outside the Lower 48 states, including future service and the not-100%-sure-thing service to Shanghai:

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=MSP-ICN%2C ... =wls&DU=mi

And here is service in the Lower 48:

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=MSP-FOD%2C ... =wls&DU=mi

Fun Fact, MSP has service to 43 of the 49 states with airline service (poor Delaware)

These maps bring so much joy to my day! thanks! #aviationnerd lol

From the airliners.net thread on the Shanghai service, here's PDEW data on the top international destinations from MSP:
Cancun/CUN 271
Toronto/YYZ 137
London/LHR 118
Puerto Vallarta/PVR 92
Punta Cana/PUJ 85
Vancouver/YVR 64
Montego Bay/MBJ 60
Amsterdam/AMS 57
Paris/CDG 57
San Jose del Cabo/SJD 55
Calgary/YYC 49
Frankfurt/FRA 48
Montreal/YUL 45
Mexico City/MEX 41
Shanghai/PVG 36 (Announced, starting in 2020)
Dublin/DUB 34 (Announced, starting in 2019)
Rome/FCO 32
Reykjavik/KEF 30
Tokyo/NRT+HND 30
Nairobi/NBO 28
Beijing/PEK 26
Munich/MUC 24
Seoul/ICN 22 (Announced, starting in 2019)

Mexico City used to be served non-stop for a brief period, but Delta wants to bring it back in the near future due in part to the joint venture with AeroMexico. Rome was tried by Delta in the summer of 2016 (or 2017?), but the performance wasn't good enough. Nairobi is quite interesting, and supposedly a decade ago Kenya Airways was considering NBO-Paris or Amsterdam-MSP, but I don't know if that's true. Beijing and Munich I feel are already well served with one-stop connections, but if any airline wants to try it non-stop from MSP I wouldn't be opposed.

Minneapolis to Mexico City on Delta is official (pending government approval) beginning June 2018: https://news.delta.com/delta-begin-new- ... artnership

Really loving all of the non-stop options going online in 2019.

http://tcbmag.com/news/articles/2019/ja ... sp-airport

Here is an article about Sun Country’s new route announcement! I think with the addition of Providence, we now have service to 44 of the 49 states with air service.

I thought Delta already had a direct Providence flight? They did a couple years ago anyway.