Delta Introduces Additional Flights with Full Flat-Bed Seats in BusinessElite for Purchase on its New York-JFK to Los Angeles Route

Oct 29, 2013

ATLANTA, Oct. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) will debut three updated Boeing 757 aircraft on the transcontinental route between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport beginning July 1, 2014, with tickets now available for purchase. These will be the first 757 aircraft in service to feature Delta's previously announced upgrades which will include full flat-bed seats in BusinessElite on transcon flights between New York-JFK and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. All transcon flights on these routes will feature flat-bed seats by summer 2015.

The aircraft will include 16 full flat-bed seats arranged in a 2-2 configuration in the BusinessElite cabin. Each seat is 20 inches wide – expandable up to 22 inches – with an average bed length of 76 inches. Cabin mood lighting and high definition 16-inch video monitor at each seat will further improve the onboard experience.

"Delta customers traveling from New York and Los Angeles continue to tell us that the comfort of full flat-bed seats is a meaningful element of their travel experience," said Tim Mapes, senior vice president–Marketing. "This expansion demonstrates our commitment to listening to what customers value most and then acting quickly to provide it."

The addition of flat-bed seats to the 757 transcon fleet will complement Delta's existing Boeing 767 transcon flights which already feature flat-bed seats for a total of eight daily flights on the route. Customers will enjoy a gourmet three-course menu from renowned chef Michael Chiarello paired with wine from Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson's specially curated Delta Winemaker Series, Westin Heavenly In-Flight bedding, a Tumi amenity kit featuring skincare products from Malin+Goetz, a noise-reduction headset, Starbucks coffee and sparkling wine round out the BusinessElite experience.

Modifications to Delta's 757 transcontinental fleet will also include changes to the economy cabin, with the addition of Economy Comfort seats. The 44 extra-legroom seats offer 35 inches of pitch and 50 percent more recline in a 3-by-3 configuration in addition to 108 standard economy seats. All seats in the economy cabin will feature a slim-line design for more personal space, an adjustable headrest, a nine-inch video monitor and standard 110v and USB power ports available at every seat.

Delta has been enhancing the transcon experience from nose to tail throughout 2013 with the addition of products such as complimentary Starbucks coffee and headsets for all passengers. The entire transcon fleet will feature in-flight Wi-Fi and all upgraded aircraft will offer an entertainment library of more than 1,000 on-demand options. Additionally, the 757 fleet will feature 18 channels of live satellite TV. 

On the ground, customers will also enjoy Delta's new Terminal 4 at New York-JFK International Airport and the $229 million investment in progress to overhaul Terminal 5 at Los Angeles International Airport.

Images of Delta's new 757 transcontinental BusinessElite seats and Delta's Terminal 4 at New York-JFK are available at news.delta.com:

Today's announcement builds on Delta's industry leadership in exceeding customer expectations by being the first U.S. airline to introduce in-flight Wi-Fi five years ago, the Sky Deck at Delta Sky Clubs in New York-JFK and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport this year, being the only U.S. domestic carrier to offer personal, on-demand entertainment at every seat on all long-haul international flights by the end of 2013 and offering flat-bed seating with direct-aisle access across its international widebody fleet by mid-2014.

Delta has invested more than $3 billion in the customer experience since 2010 including installation of full flat-bed seats on Delta's widebody international aircraft, a new Terminal 4 at New York-JFK, Maynard H. Jackson Jr. International Terminal in Atlanta. Delta has also spent more than $100 million to expand, renovate and consolidate terminals C and D at New York-LaGuardia Airport. Additionally, customers have seen Delta's investment in its more than 50 Delta Sky Clubs throughout the system, power poles at dozens of airports, mobile apps which include features such as baggage tracking, and Wi-Fi on more than 800 aircraft. 

Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. Delta was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline worldwide in its 2013 World's Most Admired Companies airline industry list, topping the list for the second time in three years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 312 destinations in 56 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. Delta is investing more than $3 billion in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta and Facebook.com/delta.

SOURCE Delta Air Lines

For press inquiries: Delta Corporate Communications, 404-715-2554

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easyJet launches flights to Santiago de Compostela

easyJet has celebrated the launch of its first flight from London Gatwick to Santiago de Compostela, the capital city of the Galicia region in western Spain.

The thrice weekly, year round flights are expected to be very popular with British holidaymakers looking for a city full of breathtaking historical monuments steeped in tradition and spiritual heritage.

Visitors can enjoy the spectacular Santiago de Compostela Cathedral along with the destination’s unique blend of cultural influences at the heart of its cuisine and numerous other visitor attractions.

The city is set against the beautiful backdrop of the Galician mountains and unspoilt greenery boasting over a million square metres of public parks and green areas and with the beach under an hour away by car, Santiago de Compostela really does have something for everyone.

Paul Simmons, UK director, easyJet, said: “We’re delighted to be launching our inaugural flight from London Gatwick to Santiago de Compostela today.

“Spain remains a firm favourite for British holidaymakers so with over 8.5 million seats available this year alone we’re sure that it will be a strong addition to our existing services from London Gatwick.”

In November 2012, easyJet announced a strategic partnership with Spanish hotel institution, the Paradores de Turismo de España – the first collaboration of its kind for the hotel group, offering flight inclusive short breaks and holidays via the easyJet Holidays website.

Located across mainland Spain (and the Canary Islands,) the Paradores offer a unique and authentic take on tourism with no two Paradores the same.

The Parador Santiago di Compostela is often considered the most prestigious in the group’s portfolio and flights direct to the city will enable quick and convenient access direct from London Gatwick.

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NASA Flights Target How Pollution, Storms and Climate Mix

RELEASE : 13-167 NASA Flights Target How Pollution, Storms and Climate Mix WASHINGTON -- NASA aircraft will take to the skies over the southern United States this summer to investigate how air pollution and natural emissions, which are pushed high into the atmosphere by large storms, affect atmospheric composition and climate.

NASA will conduct its most complex airborne science campaign of the year from Houston's Ellington Field, which is operated by the agency's Johnson Space Center, beginning Aug. 7 and continuing through September. The field campaign draws together coordinated observations from NASA satellites, aircraft and an array of ground sites.

More than 250 scientists, engineers, and flight personnel are participating in the Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) campaign. The project is sponsored by the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Brian Toon of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is SEAC4RS lead scientist.

Aircraft and sensors will probe the atmosphere from top to bottom at the critical time of year when weather systems are strong enough and regional air pollution and natural emissions are prolific enough to pump gases and particles high into the atmosphere. The result is potentially global consequences for Earth's atmosphere and climate.

"In summertime across the United States, emissions from large seasonal fires, metropolitan areas, and vegetation are moved upward by thunderstorms and the North American Monsoon," Toon said. "When these chemicals get into the stratosphere they can affect the whole Earth. They also may influence how thunderstorms behave. With SEAC4RS we hope to better understand how all these things interact."

SEAC4RS will provide new insights into the effects of the gases and tiny aerosol particles in the atmosphere. The mission is targeting two major regional sources of summertime emissions: intense smoke from forest fires in the U.S. West and natural emissions of isoprene, a carbon compound, from forests in the Southeast.

Forest fire smoke can change the properties of clouds. The particles in the smoke can reflect and absorb incoming solar energy, potentially producing a net cooling at the ground and a warming of the atmosphere. The addition of large amounts of chemicals, such as isoprene, can alter the chemical balance of the atmosphere. Some of these chemicals can damage Earth's protective ozone layer.

The mission will use a number of scientific instruments in orbit, in the air, and on the ground to paint a detailed picture of these intertwined atmospheric processes. As a fleet of formation-flying satellites known as NASA's A-Train passes over the region every day, sensors will detect different features of the scene below. NASA's ER-2 high-altitude aircraft will fly into the stratosphere to the edge of space while NASA's DC-8 aircraft will sample the atmosphere below it. A third aircraft from SPEC Inc., of Boulder, Colo., will measure cloud properties.
One benefit of this thorough examination of the region's atmosphere will be more accurate satellite data.

"By using aircraft to collect data from inside the atmosphere, we can compare those measurements with what our satellites see and improve the quality of the data from space," said Hal Maring of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters.

The SEAC4RS campaign is partly supported by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. NASA scientists involved in the mission come from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt., Md.; Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

NASA's Earth Science Project Office at Ames manages the SEAC4RS project. The DC-8 and ER-2 research aircraft are managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and based at Dryden's Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif.

For more information on the mission, visit:

http://espo.nasa.gov/missions/seac4rs

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