Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) is looking to route its Asian traffic increasingly through Seoul Incheon where it has a "fabulous" partner in the form of Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) and away from Tokyo Narita, CEO Ed Bastian said at a Business Travel News conference.

Although at the time of Delta's merger with Northwest Airlines (Minneapolis/St. Paul) in 2010 some 90% of the carrier's Asian traffic connected via Tokyo, this share has since gone down to just about a third. Bastian explained that Seoul offers connections to 80 destinations in Asia, while Tokyo allows for transfer to and from just a "handful" of airports in the region. Consequently, Delta's connecting traffic via Tokyo is "unsustainable" and "probably will be at zero at some point", Bastian added.

In Seoul, Skyteam airlines such as Korean Air, Delta, Air France (AF, Paris CDG), KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol), China Airlines (CI, Taipei Taoyuan), and Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) use the brand new Terminal 2, which further increases the connecting opportunities. Delta itself now just operates to Manila Ninoy Aquino International and Singapore Changi from Tokyo Narita having previously served many Asian destinations via Tokyo.

Delta's domestic competitors also have a stronger position in Japan thanks to their partnerships with ANA - All Nippon Airways (for United Airlines) and JAL - Japan Airlines (for American Airlines).

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Delta currently offers 69 weekly roundtrips between the United States and Japan and has a 15.35% market share by capacity between these countries. JAL, ANA, and United all have bigger market shares. Delta also has a 9.65% market share between the US and South Korea, the largest among all US-based airlines and third only to Korean Air and Asiana Airlines (OZ, Seoul Incheon).

Bastian also added that Delta would announce the details of its planned service to Mumbai International in the coming weeks. The route will mark Delta's return to India after about a decade. The carrier is yet to decide whether it will serve the route out of New York JFK or Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson. Bastian explained that the partnership with Jet Airways (JAI, Mumbai International) was one of the key factors behind Delta's decision to resume India operations.