Delta Air Lines has announced that it will not begin flights to Atlanta from Edinburgh in June as previously planned.

Announced in January, the non-stop flights were scheduled to begin on June 2nd and run until October 1st, with thrice-weekly services between June 2nd and 30th and daily flights between July 1st and September 30th.

The carrier has put off the start of services on the route indefinitely due to the rising cost of fuel. However, its new flights from Edinburgh to New York are still expected to go ahead this summer.

A spokeswoman for Delta told the Travel Trade Gazette that the airline is "aggressively" looking to improve fuel efficiency on its various routes as a result of spiralling costs.

"Scotland remains an important market in Delta's effort to boost international service, including plans to grow international capacity by double digits in 2008," she added.

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