International markets are an exciting and important, but relatively small, part of Delta Air Lines’ total services. In the 12 months to October 2025, the SkyTeam member carried 29.1 million passengers on international flights.

Comparisons with peers are enlightening. In contrast to Delta, American Airlines transported 37.6 million passengers on international flights, while United Airlines carried 38.2 million. All of these findings are from examining the latest US Department of Transportation figures.

Delta Air Lines’ Ten Routes With The Lowest International Seat Load Factors

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They are shown on the map above and detailed in the table below. They are based on examining all of Delta’s international routes in the 12 months to October 2025, with its entire non-US operation having an average seat load factor of 85.1%. To avoid anomalies, such as time-limited charter services, only airport pairs with at least 3,000 round-trip passengers are considered.

They include a good mixture of regional and long-haul services. Some had only just resumed, while some have since ended. United was no different. Notice that no route from Atlanta, Delta’s busiest hub and top fortress hub, was included. Likewise, none from Detroit, Salt Lake City, or Seattle hubs, etc.

Delta From Orlando To Heathrow

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This route was always a strange addition to Delta’s long-haul network. That’s for various reasons, including because Orlando is not a hub and the route was lower-yielding than its other services to the UK’s busiest airport, largely due to a lack of premium travelers. More significantly, the airport pair is already well-served by fellow oneworld member and transatlantic joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic.

Delta operated from Orlando to Heathrow between October 2024 and March 2025. The three weekly service, which used the Airbus A330-900, only lasted for a season. Delta’s average seat load factor was just 64.8%. Particularly bad months were October 2024 (40.1%; then again, it only started at the end of the month), January 2025 (57.8%), and February 2025 (58.3%).

In contrast, Virgin filled 86.7% of seats in the same few months, when it operated daily to double daily. Of course, most of the market consists of British vacationers, with Virgin having much better brand recognition. In the aftermath of Delta’s exit, Virgin offered up to 17 weekly services from the UK’s busiest airport to Orlando. This maximum frequency is also available during the upcoming summer.

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How Did Delta’s Seat Load Factors Vary Regionally?

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As mentioned earlier, Delta’s average international load was 85.1%. Of course, the result, which is just one performance factor, varied widely by geography. It always will. Some 90.0% of Central American seats were filled, which meant it was the carrier’s best-performing market in this sense.

With 87.1%, Mexico was second, followed by South America (86.7%), Europe (85.8%), Canada (83.2%), Asia (82.9%), Africa (79.1%), and Oceania (just 77.5%). The latter includes Delta’s operations to Australia (78.2%) and New Zealand (77.9%), along with its now-eliminated Tahiti service (66.9%). When all operators are considered, the US-Australia/New Zealand market has seen much capacity growth recently. Delta itself recently began flying to Melbourne.