Next month, California travelers will have another option when flying between San Francisco and Los Angeles when Delta Connection launches hourly shuttle service using 76-seat E175s.  The concept is identical to the E-Jet shuttle service that it already operates between New York LaGuardia and Washington National and Boston airports.

Fourteen times every business day, with reduced frequency on weekends, the E175s will depart on-the-hour for the 90-minute flight in the most heavily-travelled air market in California.  Delta is offering high-frequency service between SFO & LAX in competition with United Airlines, Southwest, Alaska Airlines, Virgin America, US Airways and American Airlines that fly between several airports in the San Francisco Bay area and greater Los Angeles.

The Delta Connection E175s are operated by Compass Airlines and configured with three seating zones to provide a consistent product standard and passenger experience across the Delta fleet.  There are 12 First Class seats, three rows of 12 seats at 34 inch pitch in Economy Comfort™, and 52 seats at 31 inches in Economy class.  Because the E175 has no over wing exits that can restrict seat placement, airlines have more flexibility in configuring the aircraft cabin.  United Express, American Eagle and Delta Connection all configure their E-Jets in three-class layouts.

All Delta Connection E-Jets feature inflight Wi-Fi connectivity from GoGo®.  Frontier Airlines was the first E-Jet operator to equip its E-Jet fleet with inflight internet access.  Virgin Australia plans to outfit its E190s with Wi-Fi later this year.

Delta’s new SFO-LAX shuttle again showcases the versatility of Embraer E-Jets to fly in a range of business applications.  Airlines around the world are operating the aircraft in traditional mainline service, on regional routes, in low fare environments, as scheduled charter flights and also in high-frequency shuttle markets.  California travelers have long associated Embraer with the venerable E120 turboprop that has been the backbone of intra-state regional flights flown by SkyWest Airlines.  Now with the Delta Shuttle, California passengers will associate Embraer with an entirely new class of aircraft.