In February 2024, Delta Air Lines announced it would be adding the longest domestic flight to its schedule. The journey from Boston (BOS) to Honolulu (HNL) measures 5,095 miles, and Delta plans to fly the route daily from November 21, 2024, to April 30, 2025. This is in addition to the 4-5 times a week Hawaiian Airlines flies the same route year-round.
Initially, Delta said they would be using their 767-300ER for the trip which will take 11 hours and 35 minutes to Hawaii and a slightly shorter flight time of 10 hours and 10 minutes back to Boston. Even though we’re still 6 months from the first flight on this route, Delta has already swapped the aircraft they’ll be using for this route. Instead of the 767, they’ll be using an A330-300.
While I’ve never flown on a Delta A330-300, I did fly on one during my trip from Orlando to London with Virgin Atlantic.
By changing the aircraft, additional seats will be added to the route. Delta’s 767-300ERs can accommodate up to 216 passengers, with 26 Delta One, 18 Premium Select, 21 Comfort+, and 151 economy seats, while the A330-300 has 282 seats (34-21-24-203).
It’s interesting to note that Hawaiian Airlines flies its A330-200 planes on this route, like the one we took from Honolulu to Orlando, which has 278 seats.
Final Thought
The 737-300ERs are the workhorse widebody of Delta Air Lines’s fleet and, subsequently, include some of its oldest planes. The A330-300s are the go-to for Trans-Atlantic routes and are relatively young in comparison to their Boeing counterparts. It makes sense to use the Airbus on the Boston-Honolulu route since there’s less demand for flights to Europe in the winter and a market willing to pay for the upgraded price for premium seats. In comparison, Hawaiian Airlines planes only have 18 lie-flat seats in first class, and they’re usually full.
If you already booked a flight on the BOS-HNL route, you should check your seat assignment, as it may have changed with the equipment swap.
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1 comment
This is a significant upgrade for Delta One passengers. The Delta A330-200s and -300s have a reverse-herringbone seat that is significantly more spacious and comfortable than the D1 seats on the 763. They’re still relatively old (the IFE feels especially old,) but they’re still a significant upgrade over the 763s. The 767-400s have been updated with a much newer seat (basically Delta One Suites minus the door,) but the 763s aren’t planned to be updated to that, as far as I recall. They’re going to be replaced instead over the next several years.