Delta is looking to be the first U.S. airline with nonstop service to Brasilia, Brazil's capital.
Delta asked for U.S. Transportation Department approval to launch service in mid-December, starting with three weekly fights from Atlanta using Boeing 757s with 158 coach seats and 16 business-class seats.
The Feb. 24 application is a joint request with Northwest, which wants to put its code on Delta's Brasilia flights.
Delta has been eyeing the Brasilia route for some time, said Christine Floistad, the airline's network general manager for Latin America and the Caribbean.
"The Brasilia base is a government-to-government base," she said. "That’s a solid base that is not so reliant on leisure traffic."
She said the ideal aircraft for such a route would be a widebody aircraft. "But the market is too thin for a widebody," Floistad added.
Capacity shifts caused by economic pressures and air traffic changes in Europe freed up the 757 narrowbody aircraft for the route, she said.
To make the Brasilia service work, Floistad said Delta would reduce capacity on flights to the Brazilian Amazon city of Manaus and the northeastern cities of Recife and Fortaleza.