Delta just announced that they have plans to launch service between Orlando and Sao Paulo beginning in December.
This will be Delta’s first long-haul service from Orlando. Currently their only other international service from Orlando is seasonally to Cancun. This would mark Delta’s 4th destination from Sao Paulo as they currently serve Atlanta, Detroit, and New York–JFK.
Per Delta:
Delta has filed for regulatory approval to offer new non-stop flights between Orlando, Florida, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, beginning Dec. 19, 2015. Delta expects to serve the two cities with four (4) weekly flights. The airline’s strategic alliance with GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes extends the reach of this service to 20 interior Brazil destinations and provides seamless connections at Guarulhos International Airport.
“In keeping with our goal of being the best U.S. airline in Latin America and the Caribbean, we continuously listen to our customers and strive to offer them increasingly convenient ways to travel for business or leisure,” said Nicolas Ferri, Delta’s vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. “It is exciting to have the opportunity to offer a direct flight four times per week and to offer customers the reach of GOL’s network with 600 weekly codeshare flights to Brazil’s interior. Delta’s continued expansion of routes important to Latin American customers demonstrates our commitment to the region and propels us toward meeting our goal.”Â
The proposed service would be operated using a Boeing 767-300 aircraft, with 35 seats in Delta One, 32 seats in Delta Comfort+ and 143 seats in the Main Cabin.
Bottom Line
It’s very interesting that Delta is adding new international service from Orlando, and I hope that this does well for Delta, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this route is only around for a few months. It will be interesting to see, once Delta gets their approval for how long it will last.
Also my guess is that since this is operated by an internationally equipped 767-300 aircraft, for those who travel between Atlanta and Orlando, expect to see this continue on to Atlanta each day.
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This is reallocation of DL 58/59 from Atlanta to Orlando, so capacity remains flat (technically down, since DL 58/59 is being reduced to 4w in September before moving to Orlando at 4w).
Interesting timing, as Azul just announced MCO-GRU as well…
Do you have any idea of how many people from Brazilians visit Orlando to see the theme parks? Quite a few. I could see this route being successful but it is interesting to have a domestic airline trying to cater to a foreign audience.
Dont forget the daily charter flights to Sanford from gig gru and port alegro.
It’s basically another ATL-GRU flight that happens to have a stopover in MCO.
I wondered what DL was thinking on this one…until I took a look at the Brookings data from 2003 and 2011. In 2003 there were ~50K pax between the two cities. In 2011 that number was 330K…an increase of 541%. GRU was the 4th most popular destination from MCO in 2011. I’d love to know what’s driving that huge increase.