Starting July 2009 Delta will start flying LAX to SYD nonstop daily on their 777′s, operating the following schedule:

Delta Air Lines 17
Depart: 10:40 PM Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Arrive: 6:40 AM +2 Sydney, NSW (SYD)

Delta Air Lines 16
Depart: 9:15 AM Sydney, NSW (SYD)
Arrive: 6:00 AM Los Angeles, CA (LAX)

Two things immediately come to mind. First of all, this really makes Delta live up to their self-titled “new global airline” status. They fly basically everywhere nowadays, and this will be a nice addition to their route network. Second of all, the return flight leaves awfully early, and as a result gets into LA really early. This can be a good thing or bad thing, depending on your travel preferences.

With Qantas and United already in the market and Delta and V Australia entering the market soon, we might finally see some decent fares to Australia. While Delta seems to be loading fares of $2,000+ as of now, I’m sure they’ll plummet nearly as fast as oil prices over the past few months.

Also, in the long run this means more award seats in the US to Australia market. With the added competition we’ll see a lot more seats and a lot more premium seats going empty, so over time I would expect to see more and more premium saver award seats.