FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS...
the fleet, Delta hires 60 cabin crew to operate it, plus pilots and people behind the scenes – the airport teams, including customer service and baggage handlers, cleaners and caterers. It all takes a huge amount of coordination to get each flight off the ground.
So where on earth do planes actually go? As air travel begins to restart and families, friends and colleagues reunite, we asked Delta to keep a diary for one of its long-haul jets – a widebody, twin engine Airbus A330-300 called Ship 3301.
The plane has a range of approximately 6,000 miles, or 13 hours, enabling it to reach 98% of Delta’s route map, and there are 31 in the fleet.
A week in the life of Ship 3301 MONDAY
London 07:00: Ship 3301 is landing at Heathrow Terminal 3 having flown in overnight from Atlanta, a trip of eight hours and 20 minutes.
Delta has a daily operation between these two hubs and a tight turnaround of three hours and 15 minutes for passengers to disembark, cargo and catering carts to be removed, a thorough Covid sanitising of the cabin, new meals and drinks loaded, security checks carried out and the crew to board ready to greet the passengers.
It’s a well-practised routine and one that can take place several times a day, depending on the schedule, which varies each day as Delta meets the changing demands of pandemic flying.
Atlanta 14:55 (19:55 in London):
Ship 3301 is already arriving back in the US after its nine-hour flight from Heathrow. Here, it’ll be turned around again to take a new set of travellers to the major hub at Frankfurt, Germany, at 18:00 on a nearly nine-hour journey.
The crew have also completed their day at the ‘office’ and can head home.
They had 24 hours in London to recuperate from their outbound flight – something the previous night’s crew are now doing before operating tomorrow’s flight to Atlanta.
TUESDAY
Atlanta 16:05:
Fast-forward almost 24 hours and Ship 3301 is back from Frankfurt, a 10-hour trip. In three hours the A330 will fly to a new continent –
this time its destination is South America and Sao Paulo.
The flight to the vast Brazilian city takes nine-and-a-half hours from Atlanta and again operates overnight, so will carry bedding and amenity kits in all cabins. Delta’s longest routes are operated using Airbus A350 or Airbus A330neo aircraft, which fly to Asia and South Africa.
Turn left passengers in Delta One business class can also take advantage of the flat beds before the 05:40 arrival.
WEDNESDAY
Sao Paulo 22:50: The aircraft has had an unusually long layover because Sao Paulo is one of Delta’s maintenance airports, allowing engineers to complete routine checks. It then departs at 22:50 ready for the overnight flight back to Atlanta, where it lands at 07:20 on Thursday.
THURSDAY
Atlanta all day: Today, Ship 3301 is spending her time at Delta’s home base for more routine maintenance. All aircraft undergo regular checks, which is built into each schedule.
FRIDAY
Atlanta 07:15: The A330-300 takes off for a return hop to Detroit,
unusually being deployed on a one hour 55 minute domestic route.
The pandemic has meant changes for US internal services, with the country not open to many international visitors – including the UK (until reopening on November 8).
So Delta has been putting some of its larger aircraft, usually reserved for long-haul overseas flying, on its popular domestic routes as Americans enjoyed more holidays closer to home. Just like us Brits, staycations in the US are booming.
Atlanta and Detroit are two of Delta’s largest hubs and with hundreds of destinations across the US, travellers often have to take connecting flights to go on a domestic holiday.
Joe Esposito says: “Over the summer, which is our busiest time for travel, we’ve seen more people than ever book last-minute trips as international borders reopen to vaccinated American visitors. “But we’ve also seen beach and traditional leisure destinations like Florida, as well as mountain destinations, be particularly popular so we’ve increased flying from some of our hubs to meet this demand.” On Friday evening, customers start to fill Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to reunite with family and friends. Some of them will take the 17:45 departure to Heathrow.
The airline also flies three times a week to London from New York-JFK and will soon resume operations from Detroit and Seattle.
SATURDAY
Heathrow 10:15: The London hub’s Delta maintenance team give the aircraft a final check before waving it off back to Atlanta, from where it will then return to Frankfurt overnight, landing on Sunday.
Ship 3301 has completed her week of Covid-compliant commercial flying, notching up 28,216 miles in the air – visiting four cities in three continents. Next week, she’ll do something similar all over again. Where in the world will she be?