• Spirit Airlines at gate Orlando Florida Airport
    Orlando International Airport
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    MCO/KMCO
    Country:
    United States
    CEO:
    Phil Brown
    Passenger Count :
    40,351,068 (2021)
    Runways :
    17L/35R - 2,743m (9,000ft) | 17R/35L - 3,048m (10,000ft) | 18L/36R - 3,659m (12,000ft) | 18R/36L - 3,659m (12,000ft)
    Terminals:
    Terminal A | Terminal B

Delta will restart Orlando to Amsterdam. Taking off in October, it will be one of nine routes to Amsterdam this winter, its busiest European airport. There's still no sign if, or when, previously served Los Angeles and Tampa will return.

Delta's Orlando-Amsterdam

In the latest schedule filing, Delta added back Orlando to Amsterdam. Now bookable, the 1x daily service will leave to Europe on October 29th, the last day of the aviation summer season.

The first flight from Europe will be on October 30th, the first day of the 2022 winter season, when airlines implement winter plans. The schedule is as follows, with all times local:

  • Orlando-Amsterdam: DL36, 20:40-10:30+1 (8h 50m block time); by the A330-300
  • Amsterdam-Orlando: DL37, 12:45-18:25 (10h 40m); A330-300
Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-332(ER) N188DN
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

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14 daily departures this winter

Orlando, last served in March 2020, means that Delta will have nine Amsterdam routes this winter. It'll have 14 daily departures in the new season's first week, as shown below. It comes as Orlando International prepares to welcome Norse Atlantic from Oslo and PLAY from Keflavik.

  • Detroit: 3x daily
  • Atlanta: 2x daily
  • New York JFK: 2x daily
  • Minneapolis: 2x daily
  • Boston: 1x daily
  • Orlando: 1x daily
  • Portland: 1x daily
  • Salt Lake City: 1x daily
  • Seattle: 1x daily

Unlike in summer, Atlanta will have 2x daily Delta flights (down from 3x), Minneapolis 2x daily (from 17x weekly), and Boston 1x daily (from 2x). Winter flights are down by 15% versus summer.

Read more: Amsterdam is Delta's top European airport

Delta will have 98 weekly flights, the same as the first week of winter 2019. That's from more Orlando flights (1x daily versus 4x weekly pre-pandemic) and Salt Lake City (1x daily versus 6x weekly), but offset by a reduction to JFK (2x daily versus 18x weekly).

Delta Amsterdam network winter 2022
Delta's Amsterdam network winter 2022. Image: GCMap.

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A brief history

Amsterdam has been linked with Orlando for many years. Department of Transportation T-100 data shows that KLM served it until October 1994, often using the DC-10 and later the B747-400. Fellow Dutch carrier Martinair launched it in January 1998 with the B767-300ER, and it continued until January 2011.

After more than seven years, it was served again by Delta. The first flight was in April 2018, and it lasted until the pandemic forced it to stop in March 2020. KLM was set to resume Orlando at the start of winter 2021, but it didn't.

Now it's back with Delta. In 2019, T-100 data indicates that it carried 119,901 roundtrip passengers, with a seat load factor of 89%. Unlike most of its Amsterdam services, it has a healthy amount of point-to-point demand. Booking data suggests around 54% of passengers transited Amsterdam, mainly to Germany, the UK, Italy, Denmark, and France.

What do you make of the relaunch? Let us know in the comments.