Delta increases Airbus A330neo order
Delta increases Airbus A330neo order

Delta increases Airbus A330neo order

Aaron Hilsz-Lothian·
A330neoAirbusAirbus IndustrieAviation NewsDelta Air Lines

Delta increases Airbus A330neo order

Delta Air Lines has placed an order for ten additional Airbus A330-900 aircraft – an order valued at $2.96 billion at list prices.

On top of their existing order for 25, the new order takes their total order book to 35 of the type. Additionally, Delta has elected to deffer 10 A350-900s to 2025-2026 and has rights to convert them to the A330-900 after 2021. With 11 A350s already in service, the airline will receive four more in 2019.

The airline will start to receive their A330neos in 2019, and will use them to replace their aging Boeing 767-300ERs, which is part of their medium to long term plans for its widebody fleet.

Chief Executive of Delta Air Lines, Ed Bastian, reflected on the order in the following statement:

“The A330-900 is going to be an important addition to Delta’s fleet. Airbus has infused this next generation of the successful A330 family with new technology and features providing advanced levels of comfort for our passengers and significant operating cost reductions that will make our airline stronger in the decades to come.”

Delta is the only airline in the United States that has an order for the A330neo, after American fell for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and United continues to analyse options from Boeing. Airbus remains firm on the fact that the A330neo family is an excellent replacement aircraft for the Boeing 767 family.

Just before the announcement was made firm, photographers around Toulouse captured the first Delta A330-900, which had rolled out of final assembly. The aircraft is registered F-WWKF for testing purposes and will be handed over to the airline as N401DZ.

Delta Airlines Airbus A330-941 cn 1915 F-WWKF // N401DZ

Despite the A330neo being roughly one year behind schedule, TAP Air Portugal expects to receive their aircraft in coming days, after Rolls-Royce successfully secured ETOPS approval for their Trent 7000 engines, which exclusively power the A330neo. Delays in the engine program have forced Airbus to adjust its delivery schedule, however this is not expected to be a major issue.

Azul isn’t so cheerful and have recently questioned when they will receive their aircraft. Airbus are continuing to work with the airline and Rolls-Royce to ensure deliveries work out, however Azul fears first delivery for them will occur in 2020, rather than next year, making their fleet planning job much harder than it already is.

Their first A330-900 rolled out of final assembly a few months ago and has since been slowly moving around:

Delta increases Airbus A330neo order
Azul Airbus A330-900 without engines

Airbus and Rolls-Royce expect no major problems to appear on the Trent 7000 that will cause delays, stating the engine manufacturer has rolled out adequate fixes and used different components compared to the problematic Trent 1000 engines.

Delta is confident Airbus will deliver, however declines to speak to any media outlets about any delays that may have popped up.

Aaron Hilsz-Lothian

Based in Sydney Australia, Aaron currently works as as a load control planner among the regional operation centre of a major airline. In addition to this, he has multiple years of experience in a frontline aviation environment including ramp, customer acceptance and freight. Writing casually for Sam Chui since 2018, he intends to use his experience in the industry to answer everyday questions that passengers often ponder and to shed light on the complex systems that make aviation so fascinating.

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3 Responses

  1. Delta is hardly “anti-Boeing”. You’ll note they are in the midst of receiving approximately 130 737-900ER’s. How is that anti-Boeing? They are making the best business choice for their business model (which is quite successful). Anything less would run counter to their fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders.

    Reply

  2. Delta increases their anti-Boeing stance. It’s sad that an American carrier can be so anti-Boeing, while the mainline European carriers are so heavily biased towards Airbus. Given their anti-Boeing bias, and their worthless loyalty program, I will shift my spend away from Delta.

    Reply

    1. Airlines choose what’s best for them. If US airlines purchased Boeing aircraft just because they’re American made, they’d likely end up with an aircraft that doesn’t work for their needs, causing them to lose money. There’s plenty of airlines in Europe and America that operate one or the other or both. Cost, performance, timing etc is what defines an order.

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