After over a year, I’ve finally returned to São Paulo, this time with Delta. Since acquiring a 10 percent stake in South America’s LATAM Airlines Group, the Atlanta-based carrier has rapidly expanded throughout Latin America, inaugurating new destinations and upgauging aircraft types on existing ones. Routes that previously saw 767-300ERs now get A330s or 767-400ERs. Routes that saw A330s and 767s now get A350s. One such route is Delta’s route between LATAM Brasil’s main hub in São Paulo and New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, currently operated by the A330-900neo, replacing 767-300ER, 767-400ER, and older A330-300 service.
Server: Solo
Airline: Delta Air Lines
Aircraft: Airbus A330-900neo
Origin: São Paulo/Guarulhos-Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport, Guarulhos, Brazil (GRU)
Destination: John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, New York (JFK)
Flight Number: DL226
Route: SBGR-KJFK
Seat: 8A (Delta One)
Time En Route: 9 Hours 43 Minutes
Walking down to the boarding area at Terminal 3 for our flight to JFK. Our aircraft is a 6.6-year-old A330-900neo delivered to Delta the day after the 4th of July in 2019, and is the oldest A330neo in the fleet. We’ll be in Delta One for this roughly 9 hour 45-minute flight.
Starting to taxi after pushing back from Gate 308. We’re currently watching Delta Air Lines’s special 100th Anniversary pre-flight safety video while we head out on the power of the port Trent 7000 before starting the starboard one at the hold short line for the runway.
Powerful Trent 7000 takeoff for JFK! We’re getting airborne into the Brazilian sky off of Runway 10L.
Settling in for a brief power nap before dinner is served as we climb out of Guarulhos. The Delta One cabin is about half-empty tonight and most everyone else has the same idea we do, so it’s pretty quiet up front.
In cruise over the Brazilian state of Pará. The braised beef short rib we had earlier was delicious, as well as the dessert of Dulce de Leche pudim. Now for some more sleep!
Turning over Sint Maarten after we briefly woke up to order a drink of water. It was brought to us swiftly and with a smile. Gotta stay hydrated, even at 36,000 feet!
Descending along the Jersey Shore as we head north to New York City. The Delta One Suite we were in has lived up to its lofty reputation so far.
Pre-dawn arrival in the Big Apple. According to the information on our IFE screen, the temperature outside is about 25 degrees Fahrenheit, a huge contrast to balmy São Paulo this time of year.
Taxiing to Terminal 4 and our gate there. For once, JFK appears to be…not abuzz with activity? It’ll definitely pick up though later in the day.
Parked at Gate B26. It was nice revisiting the A330-900neo and GRU, and we’ll be back shortly both on the A339 and in São Paulo.