Report: Delta Launching Atlanta To Marrakech Flights

It’s always nice to see more nonstop service to interesting destinations. Along those lines, we have reason to believe that Delta will shortly be announcing a new route to Africa, and we know what it is.

Delta will fly to Marrakech, Morocco

While there’s not an official announcement yet, Delta is expected to shortly announce a new route between Atlanta (ATL) and Marrakech (RAK).

The always in-the-know @xJonNYC hinted at this yesterday…

DL: rumors going around of a possible long haul route announcement Friday.— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 8:02 PM

Think ex-ATL to Africa-ish— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 8:17 PM

…and well, it doesn’t take a whole lot to read between the lines.

"New Zealand took both first and second place on the rankings, with second place going to Queenstown Airport… However, on the other end of the spectrum, Marrakech Airport came in last place, although still with a relatively okay score of 7.58. It was preceded by Bergamo and Rome Fiumicino.."— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 4:25 PM

Interesting that you'd pull that out, is it a hint about the new Delta Atlanta-Africa announcement that's coming?— garyleff.bsky.social (@garyleff.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM

We should learn all the details soon (probably tomorrow), including when the route will launch, which plane will be used, and what frequencies will be like. I would guess we’re looking at a winter seasonal, 3x weekly service with a Boeing 767, but that’s just because that’s exactly what United operates to Marrakech.

This will be Delta’s sixth destination in Africa, complementing flights to Accra (ACC), Cape Town (CPT), Dakar (DSS), Johannesburg (JNB), and Lagos (LOS).

How this fits into the competitive landscape

Delta is obviously following United’s lead here. This past winter, United launched a 3x weekly seasonal route to Marrakech out of Newark (EWR), using a Boeing 767, and that route will be resuming this coming winter season.

With Delta also expected to announce flights to Marrakech, it means that American will be the only one of the “big three” US carriers to not fly to Morocco (well, or Africa at all, for that matter). That’s a bit ironic, since Royal Air Maroc is part of oneworld, so American actually has a partner in Morocco, unlike Delta and United.

Funny enough, in 2020, American was supposed to launch a route from Philadelphia (PHL) to Casablanca (CMN) using a Boeing 757. That was expected to launch in June 2020, but never ended up coming to fruition, initially due to reduced demand resulting from the pandemic, and then due to American retiring its 757s (and 767s, and A330s… man, American is a shell of its former self).

Regardless, it’s cool to see more nonstop transatlantic flights to Marrakech. Historically, Casablanca has been used as the long haul gateway to Morocco, presumably largely for political reasons, and for business and connecting traffic. However, for point-to-point leisure traffic (which is what US carriers are going after), Marrakech is of course where it’s at.

Bottom line

Delta is expected to shortly announce a new route between Atlanta and Marrakech. We don’t yet know the launch date, frequencies, or aircraft type used, but we should find out very shortly, and I’ll of course update the post when we know. As usual, we’re seeing United lead the way with international expansion, and Delta following along…

What do you make of Delta launching Marrakech flights?