Delta cuts convenient daytime flights from New York to Paris

You’ll no longer be able to have breakfast in New York and dinner in Paris.

That’s because Delta Air Lines has eliminated its eastbound transatlantic daytime flight between the two cities, as first seen in Cirium schedules and later confirmed by a carrier spokesperson.

The daytime flight will end on Oct. 26, and then Delta will offer two daily flights this winter from New York to Paris. “We will resume our third JFK-CDG frequency as an evening service beginning March 29, 2025,” Delta said in a statement.

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This summer, Delta launched a jet lag-busting daytime flight from New York to Paris. The flight departed John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) at 8:30 a.m. and arrived at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) at 10 p.m., all times local.

The plane remained overnight in Paris and flew back to New York the next morning at 9:30 a.m. local time.

This roughly seven-hour journey operated during daylight hours in both directions, meaning that many travelers stayed up for the duration of the flight and then fell asleep naturally upon landing.

These daytime flights from the Northeast to Western Europe are popular among travelers (and the TPG team) who want to “beat” jet lag. That said, there aren’t too many options for getting to Europe during the day.

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After all, they aren’t great for aircraft utilization because the planes end up spending the night in Europe before flying back the next morning.

Traditionally, airlines operate eastbound transatlantic service at night — leaving the U.S. at night and arriving in Europe the following morning. These planes return to the U.S. a few hours later during the day.

Eastbound red-eye flights allow airlines to funnel connections onto their long-haul Europe-bound flights, and business travelers can work a full day in both cities. However, they come at the expense of sleep — many flights from the Northeastern U.S. to Europe take just six hours.

Even if you decline meal service on a red-eye flight, you’ll only get about four to five hours of uninterrupted sleep even if you’re able to quickly fall asleep after takeoff.

Eastbound daytime flights are popular between New York and London. This is because the flights are a bit shorter than to Paris, the time change is typically only five hours compared to six, and there’s seemingly no shortage of travelers flying between these two markets.

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Perhaps the biggest downside is the limited connection opportunities when arriving in London at night — meaning that the flights need to basically be filled with local passengers both in the origin and destination markets.

While a slew of airlines offer daytime flights to London from Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., Delta was the sole operator of a daytime flight to Paris.

Delta didn’t share why it’s cutting this frequency, but it’s likely a mix of poor economics and weak demand for the daytime service. “Delta’s daylight route from New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG) was introduced as part of the airline’s summer schedule and will end on October 26,” the airline added in a statement.

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