15-Hour Flights: Delta Air Lines Launches New Ultra-Long Route In Just 2 Months [Map]

Published Aug 22, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT A graduate in German, Jake has a passion for history and regional aviation, and enjoys sampling new carriers and aircraft. He has visited OEM facilities as far and wide as Bristol, Toulouse, and Seattle, and recently enjoyed the milestone of flying his 150th sector as a passenger. Based in Norfolk, UK. This week marks two months until Delta Air Lines launches its new route from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to King Khalid International Airport (RUH) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The airline will operate these ultra-long-haul flights with its 275-seat Airbus A350-900. After initially running daily, they will operate thrice weekly. This new route will be among the longest Delta operates, with the westbound block time from Riyadh to Atlanta clocking in at more than 15 hours. Initially, the corridor was plagued by extremely low demand, with prevailing geopolitical uncertainty in and around the Middle East causing flyers to vote with their feet. As such, Delta has rolled out certain promotional fares. 2 Months To Go Delta will begin flying from Atlanta to Riyadh on October 23. From then until October 30, these flights will operate daily, then switch to a thrice-weekly schedule thereafter. Both legs will operate overnight, with the eastbound sector taking 12 hours and 55 minutes. The westbound leg, meanwhile, clocks in at a whopping total block time of 15 hours and seven minutes. Delta's Upcoming Atlanta-Riyadh Flights All Times Local Departure Arrival DL318 ATL-RUH 11:50 PM 7:45 PM +1 DL317 RUH-ATL 11:30 PM 7:37 AM +1 The carrier plans to deploy the Airbus A350-900 on this route, with current scheduling data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, showing that the 275-seat layout has been chosen. This configuration has 40 seats apiece in business and premium economy, and 175 in economy class. Peter Carter, Delta's President, welcomed the start of the new route. "Through our Atlanta hub, we’re making travel between the United States and Saudi Arabia more direct and more accessible, while delivering the premium experience, reliability and care customers expect from Delta." The Story So Far Credit: Shutterstock News of Delta's plans to serve Riyadh from its main hub in Atlanta first surfaced last year, with Simple Flying reporting in October 2025 that the carrier was targeting a fall 2026 launch. Before the year was out, the airline set a firm launch date, with Simple Flying's coverage in December 2025 noting that flights were bookable from October 23, 2026. At the time, tickets started at $921 each way. Unfortunately for Delta, however, these high prices were clearly more than most passengers were willing to pay to travel on its new route. Indeed, last month, reports emerged that one flight about a week after the launch had just five tickets sold, three of whichwere in the business class cabin. Normally, you could expect such a long-haul flight to be around 50-60% full at that timescale. As such, after admitting that it had indeed been experiencing "softer than anticipated" booking demand on its new route from Atlanta to Riyadh, Delta took the bold move of discounting fares on the corridor earlier this month. This took the form of a promotional economy round-trip offer, allowing passengers to book flights from Atlanta to Riyadh and back for as little as 30,000 miles plus $77. A Snapshot Of Present US-Middle East Operations Credit: Shutterstock Delta's addition of Atlanta-Riyadh flights is interesting because, currently, no US carriers fly to the Middle East. Instead, the 1,513 flights from the US to the region this month are set to be operated by airlines based in the Middle East. Qatar Airways leads the list with 422 departures, followed by Emirates with 370, El Al with 248, Etihad with 244, and Royal Jordanian with 126. Other Middle Eastern carriers with smaller US footprints include Saudia, Arkia, and Gulf Air, which have 62, 28, and 13 flights from the US to the Middle East penciled in this month, respectively. The absence of US-based carriers contrasts with August 2025, when American Airlines flew daily from Philadelphia to Doha, and United Airlines served Dubai and Tel Aviv from Newark.