Three new routes to major cities will be added to Bangor International Airport’s regular schedule of flights, after a major realignment of service from Delta Airlines.
The new routes will include the return of daily service to Logan International Airport in Boston, as well as weekly service to Atlanta and Detroit. Bangor has not had service to Boston since 2009, when Delta cut that service citing its unprofitability.
In a statement on its website, Delta said that the addition of these three new routes, along with a number of other new routes and increased flights to other destinations, is “a move that follows renewed optimism and growing customer confidence in upcoming travel.” For its new routes in the Northeast, it cited a growing demand for leisure travel in scenic locations like Acadia National Park and other New England travel destinations.
Daily service to Boston from Bangor will begin on May 5, while Saturday service to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and to Detroit Metro Airport will begin on May 8.
Delta Airlines suspended its daily service from Bangor to New York’s LaGuardia Airport in July 2020, citing pandemic-related downturns in traffic, but resumed those flights on March 2. Bangor International Airport saw a 71 percent decline in traffic in the first eight months of the pandemic last year from 2019 numbers.
Other new routes added this year at Bangor International Airport include service from Bangor to Fort Lauderdale with Allegiant Airlines, which will begin on May 28. Bangor International Airport also offers year-round service to New York, Newark, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, as well as seasonal service to Chicago and Charlotte.
In January, BIA director Tony Caruso said he recognized that commercial air travel will continue to face hurdles during and after the current health crisis. Yet he was hopeful that some types of air travel could rebound after a substantial portion of the American public is vaccinated against COVID-19.
“People will still want and need to travel but are going to be ready to do so on their own time,” Caruso said. “We’ll be here whenever that is.”