Delta Air Lines starts Melbourne-Los Angeles flights

There’s fresh competition in the skies between Melbourne and Los Angeles, with Delta Air Lines turning the trans-Pacific route into a three-horse race as the carrier takes on Qantas and United Airlines.

Delta’s Airbus A350, fitted with doored Delta One private suites in business class and a spacious Delta Select premium economy cabin, departs Melbourne at 10.20am every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, arriving in Los Angeles at 6am the same day.

Delta's AU-bound A350 have a larger business class cabin of 40 Delta One suites,

But Los Angeles will be the end point for only around half of the passengers.

Jeff Moomaw, Delta Air Lines Vice President for Asia Pacific, says travellers completing their journey at Los Angeles versus those connecting to other Delta destinations is almost evenly split.

“It’s a pretty good mix, almost an even mix, of local passengers versus connectivity,” Moomaw told Executive Traveller on the tarmac at Melbourne Airport ahead of today’s inaugural MEL-LAX service.

From Los Angeles, Delta offers non-stop flights to 40 key cities across the US, including major hubs such as New York, Boston, Seattle, and of course Delta’s hometown of Atlanta.

“So wherever you'd like to go, (we’re) pretty sure there’s a Delta aircraft that'll get you there.”

The Delta One Lounge at LAX.

That transit stop at LAX includes a seamless transfer at Delta’s Sky Way gateway precinct, including Delta One and Sky Club lounges to break the onward journey.

Delta is the first airline to fly the Airbus A350 non-stop from Melbourne and the United States, with the promise of a superior trip to the Boeing 787-9's of Qantas and United Airlines.

And this is Delta’s premium skew of the A350, boasting a larger business class cabin of 40 doored Delta One suites, up from the standard 32 berths.

Those 40 suites are matched by 40 Delta Premium Select recliners, with a 38” pitch, in their own cabin.

Relax in the comfort of Delta One suites.

Delta says the route’s DL11 and DL12 flight numbers were chosen to honour the Melbourne tram routes of the same number which serve some of the city’s most famous precincts such as St Kilda, Collins Street, Spring Street and Brunswick Street.

Victoria saw more than 200,000 visitors from the United States in the June 2024-June 2025 period, generating a claimed $385 million in spending – or a hefty average of USD$1275 (AUD$1925) per person.

While Delta also flies from Sydney and Brisbane to Los Angeles, Moomaw said the airline has no plans to add any more Australian cities to its network.

Also read: Delta’s triple-play for Australia’s premium travellers