Indianapolis Scores An Air Service Coup!


Another departure from Peoria-centric material.

Delta Air Lines announced Wednesday that it will begin nonstop service between the Indiana capital and Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France on May 24, 2018. Equipment will be 225-seat Boeing 767-300ERs (example shown on final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on September 6, 2015). Connections beyond Paris will be available through Delta's Skyteam alliance partner, Air France. 

Why is this significant? Because Indianapolis is getting its first scheduled intercontinental passenger flights. This may seem strange given that Indy is America's 15th largest city (864,164 residents in 2016) and that its metropolitan statistical area has reached 2 million. But proximity to much larger Chicago, which has long offered direct or nonstop service to Europe, and lack of hub status to offer sufficient connecting traffic are among factors relegating the city's passenger flights to North America.

Until now. 

Word is that Indianapolis was trying to persuade British Airways to offer nonstop service to London-Heathrow, but the city apparently lost this latest round to Nashville. That Delta was willing to offer similar service to another major European capital was most fortunate for economic development in the Hoosier State. 

Interestingly, Delta already offers Paris nonstops from nearby Cincinnati. The two services may compete for some passengers, though Indianapolis' new flights will draw traffic from through Indiana and perhaps even Central Illinois.  

Indianapolis International Airport is no stranger to the big leagues of commercial aviation. Since 1988, FedEx has operated a largely domestic hub there, though with nonstop freighter service to Paris (DeGaulle), France and London (Stansted), England as well as one-stop service to the Far East via Anchorage. There are lots of large jets (MD-11s, DC-10s, 767-300s, etc.) which congregate here during the night. Since 2006, Cargolux (Luxembourg) has offered Boeing 747 freighter service to Indianapolis's medical industry (Eli Lilly, Roche Diagnostics) with three weekly flights at present. 

- David P. Jordan

Comments

  1. mikefiedler1@gmail.comSeptember 14, 2017 at 3:26 PM

    Yeah, this is great for Indy and also giving the region another option. We have flown out of Indy a few times in the past. The flight options are decent, pricing is often less than Midway on Southwest, and parking cost is reasonable.

    ReplyDelete

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