Delta Air Lines, strengthened by its deep ties with Aeromexico, is relaunching nonstop service between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Mexico City.
The year-round, daily flight is slated to begin June 8. It marks Delta's third announcement of a new international destination for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport this year. The Atlanta-based carrier also announced plans to launch MSP-to-Seoul in 2019 and MSP-to-Shanghai in 2020.
Delta flew between its Twin Cities hub and Mexico's capital city several years ago, but didn't have enough passengers to support the route and ceased service in August 2011. Since then, Delta and Aeromexico have formed a close joint venture — with Delta owning 49 percent of the Mexico-based carrier — which expands connecting traffic in both cities and increases the route's chance of success.
The relationship between Delta and Aeromexico is about as close as a U.S. carrier and foreign airline can get, said Bob Mann, a Port Washington, N.Y.-based airline consultant.
"It's an antitrust-immune joint venture, so they can jointly set prices and schedules and that essentially allows them to operate as one airline," Mann said. "This goes a long way in giving Delta access to markets it wouldn't otherwise have."
Aeromexico is the largest airline in Latin America and Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport is the region's busiest airport. MSP passengers connect there to 41 other destinations in Mexico and Latin America, MSP officials said.
"We've heard from our Twin Cities customers that Mexico City is at the top of their most requested destinations," said Steve Sear, Delta's president of global sales, in a statement. "At the same time, it allows for more choice and options for customers in many U.S. and Canadian cities through one convenient, easy connection as well as easy connections to dozens of destinations in Mexico thanks to our partnership with Aeromexico."
About one-third of Delta's current operations are outside the U.S. and Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian would like to see that increase to about 50 percent. Bastian told the Star Tribune earlier this year that the airline was considering relaunching the MSP-to-Mexico City route.
