Delta Suspends over Half a Dozen European Routes
Delta is suspending some flights to and from Europe as of Friday at 11:59pm in order to comply with the directive of the Trump Administration and the new European Travel Ban.
Flights are only allowed to operate to 11 cities in the United States, and because of that, some of the European flights must be suspended in under a day.
Delta Plane in Atlanta
In a letter to their members, Delta sent out the following message:
During this time of unprecedented time, businesses and travelers are facing uncertainty. We want you to know that we have your back now more than ever.
The safety and health of our customers and employees are always our highest priority, and we will share updates with you as quickly as possible, with full transparency and, as always, with your safety foremost in mind.
Following the U.S. Government’s announcement Wednesday night to restrict select international travel, Delta teams have been working to ensure passengers have options to adjust their itineraries. We will continue to adjust service, as needed, in response to government travel directives and will be sure to keep you informed along the way.
Understanding the Travel Directive
Under the new directive, foreign nationals with 14-day prior travel within any of the 26 Schengen-area countries (see FAQs below for list of countries within this area) will not be eligible to enter the United States. U.S. citizens and Legal Permanent Residents and certain family members (and other limited exceptions) will be allowed to enter the U.S. through one of 11 CDC-approved airports:*
- Atlanta (ATL)
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)
- Detroit (DTW)
- Newark (EWR)
- Honolulu (HNL)
- New York-JFK (JFK)
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Chicago-O’Hare (ORD)
- Seattle (SEA)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Washington-Dulles (IAD)
*Delta is awaiting word from the CDC on if the approved airport list will be expanded to include Minneapolis (MSP) and Boston (BOS).
As a result, the following flights will operate today, Thursday and will return Friday, before being temporarily suspended.
- Cincinnati (CVG) – Paris (CDG)
- Indianapolis (IND) – Paris (CDG)
- Orlando (MCO) – Amsterdam (AMS)
- Portland (PDX) – Amsterdam (AMS)
- Raleigh/Durham (RDU) – Paris (CDG)
- Salt Lake City (SLC) – Amsterdam (AMS)
- Salt Lake City (SLC) – Paris (CDG)
- Salt Lake City (SLC) – London Heathrow (LHR)
We are continuing the to evaluate opportunities to operate additional flights from the 26 Schengen-area countries to CDC-approved entry points in the United States. Additional schedule details will be shared as soon as possible. We will continue to take care of customers who may be affected by these travel restrictions.
Schengen Countries
The list of affected countries, where residents, citizens, and non-Americans will not be able to travel from are:
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Paris Restaurant, courtesy of airfrance.com
I am a little intrigued why they’re suspending the SLC-LHR route, considering that London and the UK in general was not part of the travel ban. Also, I had no idea that Orlando to Amsterdam was even a route Delta served!
These planes will fly out today and tomorrow their last flight will be the return. From that point, they would, I imagine, either undergo maintenance or be used on domestic services.
March 13, 2020
We will never know if it helps: since we can’t test, we don’t have a good baseline. The numbers of affected folks will rise rapidly once the testing kits are out which will make it difficult if not impossible to determine if this ban is effective.
On a technical side, Europeans appear to be able to access the US via the UK and Ireland, so how is this helping if the assumption is that Europeans are virus carriers? They appear to be able to get here anyway.
The virus is already here, has been for some time. It’s going to do it’s thing regardless. We’re locking the door after the villain has entered the home. Let’s focus on managing the virus here. Put our energy to the best use.