The airline says travellers will benefit from a well-timed daily schedule to Atlanta which will see them arrive on the East Coast in time for breakfast and benefit from multiple onward connections via Delta’s Atlanta hub.

Departing Johannesburg at 9.05pm and arriving into Atlanta at 7.20am, the service will be operated using one of the airline’s flagship Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, featuring Delta’s 180 degree fully-flat bed in its award-winning BusinessElite class. This flight replaces Delta’s previous service to Atlanta via Dakar.

Margaret Copeland, Delta’s commercial manager for Southern Africa commented: “Taking our customers where they want to fly, when they want to fly is what Delta does best. Our schedule has been designed to maximize customers' time by allowing for a full day’s work or play in both the US and Johannesburg.

"Customers arriving in Atlanta can take advantage of convenient onward connections to approximately 180 destinations across the U.S. to cities such as D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston and Chicago, most of which can be reached comfortably in time for lunch, as well as Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Copeland continued, “We know it’s a long flight to the U.S. and we have worked hard to make our passengers feel at home on board. Our full-flat sleeper suites in BusinessElite and next-generation economy seats ensure our passengers travel in greater comfort, while our Delta on Demand entertainment system at every seat helps make the flight fly by even faster.”

Delta is the only US airline to operate service between South Africa and the United States, with a daily service from Johannesburg to Atlanta and three weekly services from Cape Town.

Delta is also the leading airline connecting Africa to the US, and by June 2009 will be the only carrier to operate service between North, East, South and West Africa and the United States and will operate from nine cities in seven African countries, subject to government approvals. Delta currently operates flights from Cairo, Accra, Dakar, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Lagos.

Delta flights between Johannesburg, Cape Town and the United States are available for booking via travel agents, Delta’s reservations team on 021 425 7447 or 011-408-8200 (Johannesburg), or online at delta.com.