Delta to fly nonstop to Manila from Los Angeles

After a seven-year hiaitus, Delta Airlines is returning to Manila.  This time it is going to fly nonstop from Los Angeles come March 28 2027.  It will mark the first nonstop flight by a US-based carrier between the two cities.  

Delta Airlines A350-900

Image source: Matthew Groh / Wikimedia

The flight will initially be operated three times a week from March 28 2027 but will operate on a daily basis starting June 7 2027.  The flights are as follows:

• OUTBOUND: DL181 departs Los Angeles at 11.50 pm and arrives in Manila 5.30 am (two days later)
• RETURN: DL180 departs Manila at 7.40 am and arrives back in Los Angeles at 6.05 am

This flight will be operated by the Airbus A350-900.  It comes with four different kinds of seats - Delta One (business class), Delta Premium Select (premium economy class), Delta Comfort (economy with extra legroom), and Delta Main (standard economy class).  

Delta One suite cabin on Delta's A350-900

Image source: Wikimedia

“The addition of Manila builds on the world-class travel experience our customers have come to expect from Delta while strengthening our position as LAX’s leading global carrier and premier West Coast hub.” according to Jeff Arinder, Delta's Vice President for Network Planning.  

Previously, Delta Airlines has serviced Manila via Tokyo Narita, a route it has inherited from Northwest Airlines.  Delta had winded down its Tokyo Narita flights in 2020 as it transferred to Haneda airport but did not carry 6th freedom flights further to the Asia Pacific it inherited from Northwest Airlines.  Delta was planning to offer service between Manila and Incheon but was forced to scrap it following the COVID 19 pandemic.

The addition of this route is part of a broader campaign for Delta to expand its presence in its Los Angeles hub and return to the Asia Pacific.  It has returned to Hong Kong on June 6 2026.  It also hosts flights from Los Angeles to Melbourne and Shanghai.  It has likewise announced the addition of flights from Los Angeles to Chicago, New York's Newark airport, and Vancouver in 2027.

Arinder further adds “Customers traveling through Los Angeles continue to benefit from Delta’s investments in LAX, including an expanding Asia-Pacific network and the opening of our second Delta One Lounge”.  Delta offers Delta One passengers an exclusive check-in and security zone at Los Angeles international aport, as well as up to four dedicated lounge spaces by 2028 spread across Terminals 2 and 3.

This upcoming route represents another contrast to previous hesitations of US carriers to expand to Manila.  Until the mid-2020s, Philippine Airlines (PAL) was the only carrier to fly nonstop from Manila to the North American continent with flights on the West Coast operated by a Boeing 777-300ER.  This changed in 2023 when United Airlines has decided to add service between Manila and San Francisco.  It has expanded to a second daily service in 2025.  Likewise Air Canada has launched service between Vancouver and Manila last year and flies four times a week.  This means PAL's monopoly over its original trio of West Coast mainstays (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver) will disappear next year when each of them will be operated by at least one carrier from North America.  

This also means the SkyTeam will have up to eight carriers per year that fly to Manila.  These include Korean Air, China Airlines, China Eastern, Saudia, Xiamen Air, KLM, and Air France (which offers seasonal service to Paris).