15+ Hours Nonstop: Inside Delta Air Lines' Historic New Long-Haul Route

You will know by now that Delta Air Lines has confirmed the start date of flights to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The route was announced in October. It’ll be the first time a US carrier has flown there since TWA pulled out in 2001. It’ll be Delta’s second Middle Eastern city, after Tel Aviv.

The SkyTeam member’s interest in Saudi Arabia is underpinned by multiple things. They include massive funding from the Saudi Air Connectivity Program, its codeshare agreement with Saudia, and its strategic partnership with the country’s new flagship carrier, Riyadh Air.

Delta’s First Flights To Riyadh

Credit: GCMap

The carrier will operate from Atlanta, its busiest hub and top fortress hub, to Riyadh, with the first departure on October 23. While the first week will have a daily service, flights will reduce to three times weekly, which is a standard frequency for a brand-new offering.

The high-premium, 275-seat Airbus A350-900 will be used. It has 40 seats in Delta One, 40 in Premier Select, 36 in Comfort+, and 159 in bog-standard economy.

On a great circle basis, it’ll cover 6,329 nautical miles (11,721 km) each way. Cirium Diio data shows it’ll be Delta’s new fifth-longest route across its full network, behind Atlanta-Johannesburg, Atlanta-Cape Town, Los Angeles-Melbourne (new route), and Los Angeles-Sydney. When the maximum block time is considered, it’ll rank sixth-longest next November.

Does Atlanta-Riyadh Make Sense?

Credit: Shutterstock

It’d be perfectly logical and sensible to wonder why Delta did not begin New York JFK to Riyadh flights. After all, the existing local traffic is of a reasonable size. According to booking data, 41,000 round-trip passengers traveled between the two airports in the 12 months to October 2025. It was by far the largest North America-Riyadh market.

But it probably did not choose that route because codeshare partner Saudia flies it, with three weekly 777-300ER flights. It’d make little sense for Delta to also fly it and compete directly with a fellow SkyTeam operator. Moreover, Riyadh Air will inevitably fly between Riyadh and JFK in the future.

The choice of Atlanta was inevitable. However, the existing market is tiny, with fewer than 5,000 round-trip passengers, which is extraordinarily little traffic for a long-haul route. Obviously, it’ll rely massively on passengers connecting to another flight in Atlanta or Riyadh. Important targeted US cities include Los Angeles (18,000), San Francisco (9,000), Chicago (8,000), Dallas (6,000), and Houston (5,000).

Readers might wonder about Jeddah. The appeal of that coastal city is far lower than Riyadh. It is considerably lower-yielding, which is exactly what’s not needed on such very long routes. Booking data shows many US-Riyadh markets have an average fare that’s three times higher than US-Jeddah. This reflects much more premium traffic (including from business and government travel) and far fewer pilgrims.

Related

Qatar Airways Slashes 30% Of Flights To This Major US City

It will now be the carrier’s least-served US city.

Delta Previously Flew To These Middle Eastern Cities

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Delta’s historic Middle Eastern network includes Amman (from JFK; served until May 2011), Dubai (from Atlanta; served until February 2016), and Kuwait (from Atlanta; served until June 2009). While the 767 was used to Amman, the 777 was flown to Kuwait and Dubai. Perhaps surprisingly, Emirates does not fly Dubai-Atlanta, although Etihad began Abu Dhabi-Atlanta flights in mid-2025.

Since March 2016, Cirium data indicates that Delta has only flown to Tel Aviv in the Middle East. Currently, it flies from JFK to Israel. However, flights from Atlanta will return in April and Boston in October. When Riyadh service starts, Delta will have four Middle East routes, a number that was last available in 2011.