Delta is putting serious money and metal behind Los Angeles. The airline has announced three new routes and extra frequencies on seven existing ones, all building towards a summer 2027 schedule it says will be its biggest ever at LAX — more than 200 peak-day departures to nearly 70 destinations, a jump of over 20% on this year.

The headline route for many travellers is Los Angeles–Philadelphia, launching 7 June 2027 as a daily Airbus A321neo service. Until now, American Airlines has been the only carrier flying nonstop between the two cities, with six to eight flights a day out of what is one of its biggest hubs and its main transatlantic gateway. Delta's single daily flight won't dent that frequency, but it gives LA-based Delta and SkyTeam flyers a direct option they've never had, plus a one-stop bridge to Europe via PHL.

The other two routes are California favourites revived. Delta returns to Monterey from Los Angeles (twice daily) and from Salt Lake City (daily) on 19 December 2026, flown by SkyWest with Embraer E175s. Monterey last saw Delta service from LAX in 1999 and from Salt Lake City in 2008, so this is less a new market than a welcome reunion for anyone heading to the Monterey Peninsula without a drive up Highway 101.

Beyond the new routes, Delta is adding one daily round trip each on seven LAX services between April and July 2027: Raleigh–Durham and Cincinnati go from one to two daily, Houston and San Antonio from two to three, Boston and San Diego from four to five, and Seattle from seven to eight. That's frequency where it counts — tighter same-day options on transcontinental, Texas and West Coast routes.

Context matters here. LAX is one of the few US airports where Delta, American and United all operate at scale without any of them dominating. Delta currently leads with 19.7% of passengers in the first seven months of 2026, ahead of United (17.7%) and American (16.1%), and most of that strength is domestic. United still carries roughly 64% more international passengers from LAX, though Delta is chipping away with new or upcoming service to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chicago, Vancouver, Newark, Brisbane, Melbourne — and Manila, launching in March as the only US carrier serving the Philippines.

For travellers, the practical upside is choice and comfort. Delta's $2.3 billion Sky Way project has rebuilt Terminals 2 and 3, and LAX is now the first airport with two Delta One Lounges, with the airline aiming for over 60,000 square feet of lounge space across four venues by 2028. Given that Delta pulled in $22.1 billion from premium tickets in 2025, expect a lot of those new seats to be the lie-flat kind.

If you're planning a trip through Southern California in 2027, the expanding schedules mean better connection options and more nonstops — whether you're chasing Philadelphia cheesesteaks or the aquarium in Monterey.