Delta restarting Shanghai route

Flights from Atlanta stopped twice before, but new partnership brings expectations of new customers.

Delta Air Lines is trying again with nonstop flights between Atlanta and Shanghai, China.

Atlanta-based Delta aims to launch Shanghai flights a year from now, in July 2018, with 291seat Boeing 777-200LRs. The launch is subject to government approval, and Delta applied for the route on Wednesday.

Delta previously started flights between Hartsfield-Jackson International and Shanghai in 2008, but weak demand led to their suspension in 2009. Delta reinstated the route a year later, then discontinued it altogether in 2012.

This time, Delta says a stronger partnership with China Eastern, which has a hub in Shanghai, will help bring more passengers to the flights. Delta bought a 3.55 percent stake in China Eastern for $450 million in 2015.

There are currently no nonstops between Atlanta and China, and Delta has only two other routes between Atlanta and Asia: to Tokyo and Seoul. Delta relaunched service to Seoul last month.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Shanghai “is one of the most requested routes that we have here in Atlanta . ... It’s a big deal for the local business community, not just in Atlanta but in the Southeast.”

He said he expects large international businesses that sell or buy goods in China, such as CocaCola and Home Depot, will be big users. “It’s also going to create additional business opportunities in Atlanta for new business start-ups and new connectivity,” Bastian said.

Gov. Nathan Deal said in a written statement that the Shanghai route will boost tourism and business connections. “The flight will help shorten supply chains for our companies and give them a daily link to China for time sensitive distribution,” according to Deal.

Delta said its China Eastern partnership will allow travelers to connect in Shanghai to more than 50 other cities in China, while more travelers from China can connect in Atlanta to other U.S. cities, increasing the potential market of fliers.

”We’ll have a real good shot at making this a success,” Bastian said.

At the same time, Delta plans to cancel a route from its Tokyo Narita to Shanghai as it draws down the Tokyo hub. Delta already flies to Shanghai from Detroit, Los Angeles and Seattle, but the return of the Atlanta route has been much anticipated. Then-CEO Richard Anderson said in 2014 he hoped to eventually restart the flights.

Bastian repeated that hope last year, saying he considered it his “personal contribution to the community. Because Atlanta needs Shanghai. Shanghai is the capital of Asia, from my vantage point, for the future.”