Delta flies planes empty to meet Australian requirements

By Kelly Yamanouchi

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Delta Air Lines’ new flights to Australia, launched in July, have forced the airline to send some of its planes to Europe -- sans passengers -- to get required pesticide treatments.

Australia requires airlines flying into or out of the country to be treated periodically with an insecticide, permethrin, that’s not yet approved in the United States for use on aircraft.

So several times this summer Delta flew one of the Boeing 777-200LRs it uses on the Sydney route from Atlanta to London for treatments. The planes then flew back to Atlanta and on to Los Angeles for use on the Sydney run.

The practice of flying nearly empty planes across the Atlantic has drawn criticism from environmentalists across the pond, with coverage in Britain’s Guardian newspaper. Delta says it didn’t sell seats on the Atlanta-London ferry flights because they were not part of its regular flight schedule.

Delta is “working to limit the practice of ferrying aircraft,” which can be costly for the airline, and has turned some into revenue-generating flights, said Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott. She said Delta has recently rearranged its use of 777LRs so that they fly only from Paris to London for the treatments.

By the end of October, Elliott said, Delta will have the treatments done in Asia in conjunction with regularly scheduled 777LR flights. That will enable the airline to integrate the treatment into normal operations and end London ferry flights for that purpose, she said.