Aviation watchdog JonNYC has confirmed that Delta Air Lines will be announcing new service from Atlanta to Marrakech, Morocco. Initially he teased a flight from Atlanta to Africa, suggesting only that only that it would not be Southern Africa.
DL: rumors going around of a possible long haul route announcement Friday.
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Think ex-ATL to Africa-ish
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 7:17 PM
as in not southern Africa
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Then when he posted an article about airport quality ratings, he pulled out in particular that “Marrakech Airport came in last place.” And he confirmed that, indeed, that was a hint.
I guess I need to be more subtle in the future
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Atlanta – Marrakech is 4,348 miles across the Atlantic, the same distance (well, four miles farther) than Chicago O’Hare – Frankfurt. Delta, of course, has tremendous connecting feed in Atlanta to scoop up any passengers that may wish to travel to Marrakech. They won’t have connections on the other end.
Royal Air Maroc is a member of oneworld. American Airlines was going to fly to Casablanca (from Philadelphia) before the pandemic got in the way of their plans. They sold off the Boeing 757s they were going to use for the flight, and never returned to the opportunity. Having also sold their Boeing 767s and parked Airbus A330s out in the desert, they’ve had a long haul aircraft shortage ever since – exacerbated by Boeing 787 delivery delays.
Currently, Royal Air Maroc flies non-stop from Casablanca to Washington Dulles, New York JFK, Miami Montreal and Toronto. Air Canada flies from Montreal to Casablanca and Air Transat from Montreal to Marrakech. The only current non-stop flight between the U.S. and Marrakech is United’s service from Newark. Delta must think this flight is doing well.
It’s not clear what aircraft they will use for the flight, or what frequency they’ll offer. They’re still operating Boeing 767s from Atlanta, and it does have the range (indeed, Delta runs them on routes slightly longer than this one) so my guess would be that they’d go for the less expensive lift and the aircraft with a less premium product for this market compared to an Airbus A330. However unless there are further leaks that will have to wait until Delta’s announcement.
I can’t wait for more from my old band.. Morrocan Roll!
Ohho, United’s gonna be pissed!
@ Gary — Nice to see United leading the way. Of course, DL will fly a POS 767-300 on the route, so it will still be better to fly United Polaris to RAK.
@Gene — Look on the bright side: If DL flies the older 763 with just Economy and Delta One, then it’s ripe for GUCs from Economy, which could be a high-value use for Diamonds that are interested.
I’m sure Mr. Dunn will have some thoughts as well.
I’ll choose whichever airline has a voiceover of Diana Burnwood welcoming me to Marrakesh. (Any gamers roaming around here?)
Who knows, we might get BOS-RAK on an A330 instead of ATL-RAK. Royal Air Maroc used to fly to Boston with 787-9s.
Shows you Royal Air Maroc for joining oneworld. Hahahaha. They would be better of relying on feed from Hawaiian that loser AA. I never thought of connecting thru Miami to get to Morocco but im sure it happens.
@Joseph — Yeah, that MIA-RAK route is an odd one. Then again, back in the day, South African flew from CPT-MIA with their 747, so Florida-Africa routes have existed in the past as well.