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Delta Airlines has announced that it will increase the capacity on flights to New York from the summer of 2010.  The company will add an additional 187 seats on the daily flight between Tel Aviv and New York, offering in total 403 places every day.

Delta Airlines announced that it will change aircraft on the Tel Aviv route, from Boeing 767-300 to Boeing 747-400 starting the 4th June 2010.  This will mean the addition of 187 seats daily to New York.  According to Esti Hershkovitz, manager of Delta Airlines in Israel, Delta ascribes to the expectation of a substantial revival in the number of Israelis that will fly to New York next summer.

At the end of last year the company announced its intention to add 4 weekly flights to New York (18 in total), but a month later decided to freeze the plans because of the financial uncertainty and the worsening of the economic crisis in world markets.

During last summer they also announced a reduction in the number of weekly flights on the Tel Aviv to Atlanta route from 7 to 4.

 “We are not concealing our desire to develop the routes to Israel,” added Hershkovitz. “New York is the leading destination for Israelis and we expect to develop and encourage this traffic.” According to Hershkovitz the new airplane also offers significant increase in cargo capacity.

Regarding the company’s preparation for the upcoming winter season she said: “It’s no secret that it is expected to be a difficult winter for the airlines, but we are putting in great efforts to minimize any damage.”

A Delta spokesperson in Israel said that the announcement of increased flight capacity on the Tel Aviv to New York route is part of a series of improvements that should strengthen the company's international operations in the summer of 2010, including the reactivation of 16 direct transatlantic flights.