Utah air travelers got a boost Friday as both Delta Air Lines and SkyWest Airlines announced new daily flights out of Salt Lake City International Airport, one of which provides new access to Europe.
Delta was scheduled to launch new daily, one-stop service from Salt Lake to Stockholm, Sweden Friday morning.
The flight, featuring Delta's "BusinessElite" class on Boeing 767 aircraft, stops at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York before continuing on to Stockholm.
The flight is scheduled to leave Salt Lake City daily at 10 a.m., arriving in Stockholm at 8:30 a.m. the next day.
Tom Lazour, Delta's Salt Lake district director for civic and promotional affairs, said the new service represents Delta's first direct service to Europe from Salt Lake City.
Lazour said the new flight shows Delta's commitment to providing its Utah customers greater travel options, adding that the Atlanta-based airline is also expanding the hub-and-spoke route network it operates out of Salt Lake City.
SkyWest, based in St. George and known as a "Delta Connection" carrier, said it would begin seven new daily round-trip flights from Salt Lake City Friday that would represent new or increased service to seven U.S. cities.
The new or expanded daily round-trip service include flights to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix, Palm Springs, Calif.; Albuquerque, St. George, Jackson Hole, Wyo. and Sun Valley.
The Minneapolis flight, which leaves Salt Lake daily at 8:20 p.m. and arrives at 11:55 p.m. , is a destination for Southwest.
A daily 9:15 a.m. departure to Phoenix that began Friday and another at 2:05 p.m. that is scheduled to begin Jan. 31 also are new routes, as is a daily flight to Palm Springs that departs at 9:25 p.m.
Among the expanded service, SkyWest will add a third flight to its Albuquerque run that departs at 3:15 p.m. and its Salt Lake-to-St. George service will be expanded with a new flight departing at 4:33 p.m.
SkyWest's service to Jackson Hole will now include a 6:30 p.m. departure, and its Sun Valley service will have an additional flight leaving Salt Lake at 8:10 a.m.
Rob Reber, SkyWest's executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the new flights launched Friday are only the beginning of its growth plans.
"(We're) in the midst of significant expansion, adding a number of Canadair Regional Jets over the next five years to service our Salt Lake City Delta Connection operations," said Reber.
SkyWest, the nation's fourth largest regional carrier, now operates more than 200 flights in and out of Salt Lake on 12 Canadair jets and 16 Brasilia twin-engine turboprop airplanes. By next December, Reber said the airline will be operating at least 25 of the regional jets out of Salt Lake and 35 by December 2002.
SkyWest's flights to Phoenix, Minneapolis, Palm Springs and Albuquerque will employe the Canadair jets, which offer passengers two-by-two seating, cruising speeds of 530 mph and fly at altitudes up to 41,000 feet.
Its Delta Connection service to St. George, Sun Valley and Jackson Hole will use the 30-passenger Brasilia craft, which offer single and paired seating and cruise at some 340 mph.
SkyWest now serves 35 cities.
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