It hopes to attract holidaymakers looking to take advantage of the Mexican sun. The flight will start on December 20, running through till mid-April 2026.
It will use Airbus A320 equipment – which also features Delta’s first class product – and faces competition from two other US airlines on the route.
The new route
Delta’s new service from Austin will provide just under 10,000 two-way seats according to data from aviation analytics firm, Cirium. The airline will compete against American Airlines which offers year-round service with its Boeing 737-800s, providing slightly more seats than Delta will with its A320s.
Southwest Airlines also offers service on the route, though flights are only bookable until early-November.
Delta’s Airbus A320s will feature 157 seats, with 123 seats in economy class and 16 in first class. In Delta terms, that means the airline will offer First Class, Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin seats.
Additional Austin expansion
Delta also plans to increase service on one of its other routes that connects Austin to Orlando (MCO). It hopes to increase flights to twice daily during the peak winter travel season, with service offered in the morning and afternoon.
It also recently launched flights to New Orleans on February 27. Other recent Delta expansion at Austin includes the inauguration of Panama City, Florida (ECP) flights in March. Its aggressive expansion from Austin also sees the carrier adding flights to:
- Jacksonville (JAX), Indianapolis (IND) and Memphis (MEM) as of May 2025
- San Francisco (SFO) and Tampa (TPA) as of June 2025
Year-over-year growth
Delta says that these new routes will offer a combined increase of more than 35% in the airline’s daily departures. In winter alone, Delta says that with the new Cancun flights, daily departures will reach 60. Paul Baldoni, Delta’s Senior Vice President of Network Planning says:
“Delta is the leading global network carrier at Austin-Bergstrom, operating nearly 60 peak day departures this winter. This new service to Cancun adds yet another popular leisure destination for our Austin customers.”
Delta’s network at Austin has, evidently, expanded rapidly. Baldoni mentioned that Delta is the “leading global network carrier” at AUS, which is true given that that metric allows it to ignore Southwest Airlines’ dominant position.
This year, Southwest Airlines will offer almost double the amount of seats and flights as compared to Delta. American Airlines is in third place, tailing Delta.
- Southwest Airlines : 64,000 flights and 10,200,000 two-way seats
- Delta Air Lines : 38,000 flights and 4,900,000 seats
- American Airlines : 30,000 flights and 4,600,000 seats
- United Airlines : 23,000 flights and 3,400,000 seats
Last year, Delta Air Lines actually only reached third place in terms of number of flights and seats on offer. American Airlines has reduced its operation at Austin overall, with flights down 16% and seats down 13%.
American Airlines was bullish about its Austin expansion in the aftermath of the C.O.V.I.D.-.1.9 pandemic. It announced the launch of several new routes, including ten in March 2021 and a further 14 in June.
But Austin seemingly did not perform as well as had hoped. In late-2023, the airlne announced it would be suspended 15 domestic and six international routes from Austin. Cuts continued through 2024, with five removed in July and a further four in September.
Only time will tell whether Delta Air Lines will find success where American failed.
