Delta Air Lines Launches 2 New Routes from LAX: Daily Hong Kong and 3x Daily Chicago Flights Start June 2026

With domestic travel plateauing in the US for the last few months we've seen all major carriers look to expand their reach beyond the country's borders. This is something even the largest of the pack, Delta Air Lines, is engaging in with it's latest network expansion announcement into Asia.

Delta's Strategic LAX Expansion: Hong Kong and Chicago Routes

Come June 2026 Delta Air Lines will expand network reach both to the east and west. The two new destinations to enter the network are Hong Kong and Chicago. Two very different destinations but both of strategic importance for Delta.

Hong Kong and Chicago are economical hotspots that add great value to any airline's network, let alone an airline that aims to intercept corporate travel.

Additionally Hong Kong and Chicago are a focus city and a hub to Delta's main rival for international travel in the US, United Airlines. United just a few months back announced it would be placing an aircraft in Hong Kong having a stable presence there operating flights to a series of southeast Asian destinations. As for Chicago, that is one of United Airlines' largest hubs.

Daily Hong Kong Service from LAX Starting June 6, 2026

The most interesting of the two services as far as I am concerned is the Los Angeles to Hong Kong flight DL5. Operating daily between LAX and HKIA this will open up new opportunities to shave time off an already long trip for many.

Delta DL5 daily flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong will cover the distance in approximately 14 and a half hours. Which is still very long, but much shorter than having to make a connection on the way. Launch for Delta flight DL5 from Los Angeles to Hong Kong is scheduled for June 2026 with flights available for booking as early as June 6th.

• DL5 departs Los Angeles (LAX) at 23:30 with arrival into Hong Kong (HKG) at 05:00+2.
• DL6 departs Hong Kong (HKG) at 09:25 with arrival into Los Angeles (LAX) at 08:00.

The peculiarity of this schedule is that you arrive 2 days after departure due to the crossing of the international date line. On the return leg you arrive the same morning, actually earlier than departure time.

Airbus A350-900 Operations and Premium Cabin Features

This route will feature Delta's flagship aircraft, the Airbus A350-900. This aircraft, if you're not familiar with it yet features Delta's most up to date cabin products. That includes:

• Delta One business class seats. These become flat beds and are setup in a 1-2-1 layout providing direct aisle access to all passengers.
• Premium Select (Premium Economy) seats in a 2-4-2 layout.
• Delta Comfort+ which are economy seats with extra legroom – in a 3-3-3 layout.
• Main (economy class) in a standard 3-3-3 layout.

Cargo Operations and Transpacific Network Strengthening

Setting aside the passenger operations, the route will be extremely interesting for cargo. Los Angeles is a major freight logistical center with its port being one of the major gateways to the US market. However some goods need to travel faster than by sea. Hong Kong sits just miles from one of the largest tech producing regions in the world. Delta flight DL5 can therefore become a hugely important operations generating significant revenue thanks to this unique situation.

Furthermore the new Delta Air Lines DL5 flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong strengthens the carrier's presence on transpacific routes. Delta is a formidable force on transatlantic routes but not as much on transpacific ones.

Hong Kong is already present in Delta's route network but with services only from the northwestern hub of Seattle-Tacoma. Flight DL5 creates a new link between California and Asia for the airline.

Delta-Korean Air Joint Venture Enhancement

Delta DL5 flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong also offers opportunities for onward travel thanks to the JV in place with Korean Air. The Korean carrier is one of Delta's largest partners worldwide and operates a vast regional network.

Triple Daily Chicago O'Hare Service Launches June 7, 2026

The other flight Delta Air Lines has just announced is a direct non stop service to Chicago O'Hare international airport. This, rather surprisingly, was a route that was missing to the network. Delta doesn't operate to date, July 22nd 2025, direct non-stop flights between Los Angeles and Chicago. The new flights will be numbered:

• DL967
• DL1634
• DL670

These flights will launch just one day after DL5 to Hong Kong, on June 7th 2026.

• DL967 departs Los Angeles (LAX) at 07:45 with arrival into Chicago (ORD) at 14:00.
• DL967 departs Chicago (ORD) at 14:55 with arrival into Los Angeles (LAX) at 17:40.

• DL670 departs Los Angeles (LAX) at 11:15 with arrival into Chicago (ORD) at 17:30.
• DL671 departs Chicago (ORD) at 18:30 with arrival into Los Angeles (LAX) at 21:15.

• DL1634 departs Los Angeles (LAX) at 17:30 with arrival into Chicago (ORD) at 23:45.
• DL1556 departs Chicago (ORD) at 07:00 with arrival into Los Angeles (LAX) at 09:45.

Boeing 737-800 Operations and Route Schedule

By using the Boeing 737-800 on all new Los Angeles to Chicago flights Delta is preferring frequency and flexibility over lager capacity on a single service. What I mean is, to appeal to the business traveler having more than one flight per day is more important than having a higher capacity more comfortable plane that would make the flight more economical for the airline.

Delta's Boeing 737-800 are not the newest planes in the fleet, but they come with a 2 class configuration featuring:

• 16 Domestic First Class seats in a 2-2 layout
• 36 Delta Comfort+ seats (extra legroom)
• 82 Economy Class seats

How Delta's New Routes Compare to United's Hong Kong Strategy

This expansion to Asia seems to be a response to the aggressive United Airlines move to not only launch flights to Hong Kong but also base an aircraft there. The two operations differ very much from one and other. Delta is only launching a new flight and not opening a mini-hub at HKIA. Main focus for Delta seems to remain on the higher demand transatlantic routes.