Africa has played a large role in my aviation career since 1969, when I went to work for South African Airways and later joined Pan Am in Johannesburg. As a Delta employee, it’s been exciting to see our Africa service expand and grow since December 2006, when we became the first U.S. airline to return to Africa since the 1980s.

Since then, we’ve transported more than 2.2 million customers to and from Africa, and we’ve more than doubled the number of flights we’ve offered. This summer we’re flying 48 weekly departures to Johannesburg, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria; Abuja, Nigeria; Accra, Ghana; Dakar, Senegal; and Monrovia, Liberia – more flights to more African destinations than any other U.S. airline.

And as part of our commitment to Africa, today we’re opening two new state-of-the-art airport gates at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport, to support our flights between Accra and Atlanta and New York-JFK.

We’ve been working on the expanded and upgraded facilities for you since January, which will seat about 130 customers in comfort in a 295-square-meter area, with information screens and Delta counters for our gate agents. BusinessElite customers will continue to enjoy access to the airport’s Akwaaba Lounge.

The Ghana Airport Authority has been a key partner in this project, and underscores the importance of partnering with the communities we serve here.

I’ve seen a lot of changes in air service in Africa since I started here more than four decades ago, and I’m looking forward to watching this market continue to grow and thrive. It’s exciting to be part of it as Delta leads the way!

Jimmy Eichelgruen

Regional Sales Manager, Africa

Iceland has always been a special place for me. Not only is it the place of my birth, 54 years ago, but it’s where I discovered my true love – flying – and began my first flight lessons in a Cessna 150 in the late 1970s.

John Magnusson, Captain, Delta Air Lines

While my father’s service in the U.S. Navy took us to New Jersey when I was three years old, we continued to spend summers in Iceland, and I remember frequent trips from New York-JFK to Keflavík International Airport near Reykjavik. All of my ancestors came from Iceland, and Icelandic was spoken in our home (I’m as comfortable with that language as I am with English). My mother made sure that our home in New Jersey always had an open door for visitors from Iceland.

Even as I became a pilot for Northwest and, today, fly proudly for Delta, I’ve maintained my connection with Iceland, and today act as Iceland’s Honorary Consul for the upper Midwest.

That’s why it’s such an honor to be participating in Delta’s inaugural service to Iceland. I’ll be Captain of the Boeing 757-200 that will soar from JFK to Keflavik when we launch the first flight on June 1. Delta will be the first U.S. carrier in 40 years to fly nonstop between the two countries, putting us in a unique position to share the beauty of Iceland with our customers in the U.S. For me, it means continuing my family’s tradition of bridging two great countries. If you haven’t experienced the beauty of Iceland, I hope you can join us this summer and see for yourself why it’s such a special place.

John Magnusson

Captain

Delta Air Lines