DAL's Largest Transatlantic Schedule in 2026: Growth Story Hotting up?

Delta Air Lines DAL is planning for the largest transatlantic season ever for the summer of next year, to manage the anticipated surge in demand during the period. Air travel demand on the international front has bounced back nicely despite ongoing volatility.

Given this encouraging scenario, with respect to international air travel demand, DAL’s plan to have the largest ever transatlantic schedule next year appears to be a prudent one. Next summer, Delta aims to operate more than 650 weekly flights to nearly 30 European destinations. As part of the huge schedule, Delta recently decided to introduce seven non-stop routes that offer direct options for exploring some of the most tourist-friendly destinations in Europe.

The new routes include flights connecting Boston and Madrid (operating from May 6, 2026),  Seattle and Rome (also operating from May 6), Seattle and Barcelona (operating from May 7), Boston and Nice (operating from May 16), New York and Olbia, Sardinia (operating from May 20), New York and Porto (took to the skies from May 21) apart from New York and Malta (operating from June 7). Flights to tourist-friendly destinations like Catania in Italy are also anticipated to make a comeback next year.

Flights across the Atlantic will be equipped with all customer-friendly features, including Delta’s new partnership with YouTube, which provides customers with seamless, ad-free access to a curated selection of popular YouTube creators, podcasts and music playlists. The features and amenities are expected to elevate the flying experience of customers, which in turn should attract significant traffic and boost DAL’s passenger revenues.

Apart from the exciting summer schedule, Delta’s winter schedule is expected to attract significant traffic with service to popular destinations like Amsterdam, Paris, Marrakech, London-Heathrow, Dublin, Athens and Zürich. 

Delta’s peer United Airlines UAL is the largest carrier across the Atlantic with service to more than 45 cities planned for next year. Last month, the Chicago-based United Airlines boosted its summer 2026 schedule with service to four new cities across Croatia, Italy, Scotland and Spain. Driven by its significant international network, United Airlines aims to offer nearly 3,000 weekly international round-trips in summer next year.

Earlier this year, another heavyweight airline, American Airlines AAL, decided to add six new routes to Europe and expand service to South America for summer 2026. As part of the expansion plan, American Airlines intends to start operations to Prague and will be the only nonstop service from the United States to Budapest, Hungary. As part of its efforts to attract significant traffic, next summer, American Airlines also aims to add new routes to tourist-friendly destinations, including Athens, Greece, Milan and Zürich, along with expanded summer service to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

DAL’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of Delta have gained in excess of 26% over the past six months, outperforming the Zacks Transportation - Airline industry.

6-Month Price Comparison

From a valuation standpoint, DAL trades at a 12-month forward price-to-sales ratio of 0.61X, higher than industrial levels. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DAL’s fourth-quarter 2025, full-year 2025 and 2026 earnings has been revised upward over the past 60 days. Estimates for first-quarter 2026 have remained stable over the past 60 days.

DAL’s Zacks Rank

Delta currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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