Delta to add second Europe route from Salt Lake City

Delta Air Lines will add a second trans-Atlantic route from its Salt Lake City hub next spring, launching nonstop service to Amsterdam in 2015.

Delta will begin flying the Salt Lake City-Amsterdam route on May 1, starting with five flights a week before going to daily service on May 17. Delta will fly the route on a seasonal basis into October using Boeing 767-300ER aircraft.

Delta confirmed the route, first reported Saturday by AirlineRoute.net, to Today in the Sky.

"The new service is part of our planned expansion at SLC following the renewal of our lease there," Delta spokeswoman Liz Savadelis says in a statement to Today in the Sky. "We began operating under the terms of a new 10-year lease at the airport at the beginning of this month and have been a supporter of the ongoing terminal redevelopment program."

Amsterdam will become Delta's second route to Europe from Salt Lake City. Delta already flies from the Utah airport to Paris Charles De Gaulle.

Those two routes connect Salt Lake City to the hubs of Air France and KLM, Delta's most important European partners. Air France, KLM and Delta are all members of the SkyTeam frequent-flier alliance. Delta and Air France-KLM — along with Italy's Alitalia — also have a joint-venture partnership for their trans-Atlantic operations.

For Salt Lake City, the development is the second significant news item to come during the second half of July. Earlier this month, the airport broke ground on a major $1.8 billion upgrade that includes a new airport terminal.