Delta celebrated its Centennial in 2025, but its flight path is soaring into the future of aviation.
In November, the airline unveiled a summer 2026 lineup offering new ways to explore Europe, with new service from Boston to Madrid (May 6) and Nice (May 16); Seattle to Rome (May 6) and Barcelona (May 7); and New York JFK to Sardinia (May 20), Porto (May 21) and Malta (June 7).
The new Europe routes joined a domestic route expansion from Austin to Miami, Denver, Columbus and Kansas City for a total nearing 30 destination from the Texas capital, including new service to Cancun and Cabo San Lucas, which launched in December.
“Austin is a huge focus for us. We’re growing tremendously in Austin and standing up a full blown sales team there,” says Shannon Szoke, Delta’s Director of Specialty Sales, who adds that Delta is beefing up its domestic routes for both business and leisure travelers in a strategic move to expand its network of hubs.
“Domestically, it’s kind of neat what we’re doing with more leisure destinations like Kalispell, Montana, or Bozeman, Montana,” Szoke says. “We’re doing some more flying down into the Florida Panhandle to different destinations, whereas historically, it was just Panama City, Destin and Pensacola Beach to Atlanta. Now we’re starting to see those expand to other locations.”
In fact, new Saturday routes now connect Detroit to Bozeman, Destin and Pensacola, plus New York LaGuardia to Panama City.
More For Business and Groups
As groups are gearing up for 2026 conferences and incentive programs, and corporate travelers are zipping up their garment bags, Delta is seeing more of both traveler types, Szoke says.
“There’s a strong demand… especially in corporate travel, we’re seeing big increases,” she says. “Delta is ready for it. We’ve got the airplanes on order and we’ve got the customer service, almost to perfection now. We’ve got it, and we’ve got it ready to go.”
Szoke says the Delta team is ready to work with planners, either by blocking in meeting and incentive space or with dedicated charters. In addition, the Delta Business Traveler program—first of its kind in the industry—rewards business travelers with more value both in the air and on the ground.
“Delta Business Traveler is a one-stop shop for everything, for our corporates, for our meetings and events, for everything that people want and need from us,” Szoke says.
“Planners are still going to expect what we provide,” she says. “They want reliable, on-time service, they want flexibility and collaboration. They want a great customer service team within Delta and a group team within Delta that’s going to deliver on what we’re selling.”
Szoke sees a successful 2026 for both Delta and its corporate customers, despite some uncertainty surrounding the economy and world events.
“I don’t think it’s going to impact demand… planners are still going to be booking groups and corporates are still going to be booking big meetings and conferences,” she says. “With geopolitical issues, it’s hard to say what the impact will be… but right now, our airports and airplanes are as full as ever.”
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