Delta upgrades Boston to hub status on strong growth

Boston Logan International airport is Delta's newest hub, in a rare growth move by a US network carrier establishing a new connecting complex. "We've been making significant investments in Boston this year… this has really enabled us to graduate Boston from what we consider a focus city to our newest coastal hub," says Amy Martin, MD of domestic network planning at the Atlanta-based carrier. Delta has announced eight new markets from Boston to-date this year, including Chicago, Lisbon and Washington National, that combined will buoy its schedule at Logan to up to 150 peak day flights, she says. The airline's capacity in Boston is scheduled to increase 14.5% year-over-year in 2019, compared to a roughly 4% increase systemwide, Cirium schedules data shows. It is rare for a US network carrier to announce a new hub. Delta made the last such move with the opening of its Seattle Tacoma hub in 2014. More often the opposite occurs, with carriers closing hubs, including United in Cleveland in 2014 and Delta in Memphis in 2013. Boston will act as a secondary transatlantic gateway for Delta, says Martin. The carrier will serve six points in Europe – Amsterdam, Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London Heathrow and Paris – from Logan this summer, and as well as Manchester, UK, and Rome with its joint venture partners Virgin Atlantic Airways and Alitalia, schedules show.<br/>