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Delta Air Lines is expanding its presence at Melbourne Airport, Australia, with the airline’s latest news that it will boost its services to MEL from thrice weekly to daily by the end of the year. The 
SkyTeam carrier, which only launched this route to the Victorian capital three months ago, will gradually increase services to Melbourne from thrice weekly to four weekly, the five weekly, before going daily on December 22.
As first reported by Executive Traveller, daily flights are planned to continue across the Southern Hemisphere summer season, providing an easy non-stop link for those in California to Melbourne, with plans to then reduce capacity down to five days a week from March 2027. Currently, Delta operates its premium heavy Airbus A350-900 on the route.
Steady Increase To Daily Services For Christmas
As previously mentioned, Delta only debuted on the route to Melbourne from 
Los Angeles International Airport late last year, and with increased interest for travel on the city pair, the SkyTeam carrier will increase to four weekly service from October 13, before uplifting this to five weekly from October 27, before finally going daily from December 22, through to late March 2027.
Flight arrival and departure times are expected to remain the same, albeit with the increased capacity. Delta Air Lines deploys its Airbus A350-900 on the route, which includes up to 40 Delta One Suites, and remains the only airline offering A350s on the city pair (compared to United Airlines and Qantas, which fly the Boeing 787-9).
Simple Flying reached out to Delta Air Lines for comment on the increase in services to Melbourne; it did not immediately receive a response by the time this article was published.
Third Australian Destination
With steady growth and demand for travel between Los Angeles and Melbourne, Delta took off from Los Angeles with its first non-stop route to Melbourne in December, reflecting the airline’s commitment to ‘connecting customers with the world’s most exciting destinations’.
Delta remains the largest carrier at LAX, and Melbourne became the airline’s third non-stop route to Australia after Brisbane and Sydney. Including the South Pacific, Delta also maintains a seasonal link to 
Auckland Airport, New Zealand. Previously, the airline also served Papeete, but this link was withdrawn on June 7, citing weak demand. Premium travelers appear to be a key factor in Delta’s decision to increase to daily flights to MEL, with the A350-900 deployed with its heavy premium cabin. This offers 40 Delta One Suites, configuration below as per ch-aviation:
Airbus A350-900 Cabin | Number Of Seats |
|---|---|
Delta Main Cabin | 159 |
Delta Main Extra | 36 |
Delta Premium Select | 40 |
Delta One | 40 |
Total Seats | 275 |
Services to Melbourne have provided travelers with the choice to visit some of Australia’s most magnificent landscapes, including being the gateway to the Great Ocean Road, Yarra Valley, and Phillip Island. Melbourne is also a hotspot for food and entertainment, and remains one of the fastest-growing cities in Australia.
Up To 17 Hours: Delta Air Lines’ 10 Longest Routes
There are two new entries in 2024/2025.
All Airline Alliances Represented
Between Los Angeles and Melbourne, the route uniquely has three different airlines, all belonging to the three major airline alliances battling it out for supremacy. 
United Airlines ( 
Star Alliance) provides multiple weekly flights onboard its Boeing 787-9 on the route, complementing its existing services from San Francisco to Melbourne year-round.
Qantas ( 
oneworld) remains the only Australian carrier serving Los Angeles from Melbourne, with the airline also utilizing its Boeing 787-9 to serve LAX with daily flights. During seasonal demands, this has seen the airlines Airbus A380 occasionally deployed on the route. Qantas also serves Los Angeles nonstop from Sydney and Brisbane. Delta Air Lines (SkyTeam) rounds out the trifecta, with its current thrice-weekly flights, catapulting to daily from December later this year.
Indirect competition is also on offer, with both Air New Zealand (Auckland) and Fiji Airways (Nadi) providing another option to travel between California and Victoria, alongside other less common routes via Asia.
