Partner Air France will add JFK-LHR flight, drop LAX-LHR

Delta Air Lines said it plans to overhaul its service to London Heathrow next year, adding fully-flat seats to its BusinessElite cabin, and adding a new daily frequency with partner Air France from New York JFK. The airline said that by summer of 2009, it will have upgraded the business class cabins on seven of its 767-400s with the fully-flat bed-seats for use on its Heathrow routes from New York and Atlanta. The seats will recline to 77-inch-long beds in a one-two-one configuration, Delta said, so every passenger has aisle access. Meanwhile, Delta added that its join venture partner Air France plans to begin its own JFK-LHR daily non-stop flight next summer, which will be code-shared with Delta. Air France currently fliers a non-stop Los Angeles-Heathrow route, also code-shared with Delta, but that service will be discontinued when the JFK-LHR non-stop begins, Delta said. That will give Delta three flights a day between New York and Heathrow, and one a day from Atlanta to LHR. Delta also flies into London Gatwick from Atlanta and Cincinnati.