Delta will fly nonstop from LAX to Manila, a first for a US airline

For years, the trip from Los Angeles to Manila has meant a connection somewhere along the way, a layover in Tokyo, Seoul or beyond, on what should feel like a natural nonstop route between LA and one of its largest immigrant communities. Delta is about to change that.

The new route

Delta will start nonstop service between Los Angeles International Airport and Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport on March 28, 2027, the airline announced. The flights will begin three times a week and grow to daily service on June 7, 2027. Delta will fly the route with the Airbus A350-900, its flagship widebody, on a journey of roughly 7,300 miles. The launch is subject to government approval.

With the move, Delta becomes the only U.S. airline to offer nonstop LAX-to-Manila flights. Philippine Airlines has long flown the route on its own, using Boeing 777s, and will continue to offer more weekly flights than Delta at the outset. Among U.S. carriers, United flies nonstop to Manila from San Francisco, but not from Los Angeles.

Why LA

The logic of the route runs through the region's population. Los Angeles County is home to the largest Filipino American community in the United States, hundreds of thousands of people with family, business and cultural ties to the Philippines. For them, a direct flight is not a luxury but a practical convenience, trimming hours and a change of planes from a journey many make regularly.

Delta framed the expansion as part of a broader push to build up its Asia-Pacific network from its West Coast operation. The route also dovetails with the airline's existing partnerships in the region, giving it another anchor in a fast-growing corner of the aviation market.

The bigger picture

For LAX, the addition is another transpacific route at an airport that has steadily expanded its international reach. For travelers, it means competition on a corridor that a single carrier long had to itself, which tends to be good news for schedules and fares alike. And for the Filipino families of Southern California, it is something simpler: a straight line home, at last, from the city many of them already call home.