Delta goes with Airbus for widebody order spurning Boeing

Leeham Co. analyst Scott Hamilton broke the news last night that Delta Airlines has decided to go with Airbus' offer of the A350-900 and A330-900 aircraft essentially rejecting Boeing's offer of the 787.  The rumor, right now, is that Airbus offered favorable delivery slots in 2017 while Boeing's delivery book for that year is completely sold out.


Interestingly Delta had inherited Northwest Airlines' 787 order when they merged in 2009.  At that point the Delta had the early delivery slots for the 787s yet over time they had elected to move those delivery slots further out to the right to around 2020 and beyond.  If they had kept those delivery slots for the 2017-2018 time frame, Delta could have had the 787-9 and at a very competitive price as well.  One has to question Delta's fleet management decisions in context of the Airbus order while still holding a 787 order with early delivery slots.


Now that they have gone with Airbus the 787 order is in limbo and, in my opinion, order that will never be delivered even though it will remain on the Boeing order book just like Virgin Atlantic's A380 order with Airbus.

Delta reaffirms 787 order

In an SEC filing, Delta Airlines reaffirm their intention to take delivery of 18 787-8s that the airline inherited in its merger with Northwest Airlines. NWA was the first US airline to order the 787 in 2004. That order was originally supposed to be delivered between 2008 and 2010. However, Delta will now take delivery between 2020 and 2022...ten years from now. No word on the fate of the 50 options that the carrier also holds.

United Airlines will be the first US carrier to receive the airplane sometime next summer.

Is Delta switching from the 787-8 to the 787-9?

Yesterday I linked to a post on Saj Ahmad's Fleetbuzzeditorial.com blog site regarding the 787-9.
On the 9

Well interestingly enough a comment was left by someone saying that supposedly that Delta has decided to switch from the 787-8 to the 787-9 and to increase the order to triple digits (100 or more airframes?). The announcement is supposedly to be made later this year once Boeing has reallocated the 787-8 slots that Northwest had bought along with it in the merger. Now this is a rumor so let's not take it at face value but if there is someone out there who knows something and who can confirm it, let me know!

It is interesting because a lot of people know that Delta has said that it doesn't really need the 787-8 and there has been rumors that they would take up more 777-200LR. Well now in the light of Boeing gaining some more range from the 787-9 one wonders if this rumor may have some truth to it? In increasing the 787 order (they have 18 on order plus 50 options) to about 100+, Delta could replace the entire 767 and A330 fleet (about 100 aircraft) and add capacity for future growth.

Again, if any one has any further information on this rumor, please let me know!

Aviation Week: Delta not to take early 787

According to Aviation Week, Delta Airlines appears to be walking away from the inital 787s that was part of the order made by Northwest Airlines. Looking at annual report for Delta Airlines, the 787 were deleted from the firm order count though the order still is on the books at Boeing.

It is quite possible that Delta would trade them for more 777s and take later 787 slots. This would also help free up early delivery slots for customers affected by the delays in the 787.

Read the Av Week article here.