Delta is currently holding a large fleet with lots of relatively old planes. While they are not going to retire those aircraft soon, passengers are expecting a modern cabin interior in those planes. Having a history of refurbishing its narrow-body aircraft with the latest cabin product, Delta is now moving another step forward.
Delta 767-400 Current Cabin
Currently, Delta has 21 Boeing B767-400ERs in their fleet, with delivery dates ranging from August 2000 to April 2002. Delta are now operating these as the 76D with 3 distinct cabins, Delta One, Delta Comfort+, and Main Cabin.
The current staggered Business Class seat are in a 1-2-1 configuration spread across rows 1-10, which makes a total of 40 seats. These seats do not have much privacy and are quite narrow, considering the width of the 767.
Delta 767-400 New Cabin
The first plane Delta has decided to install the new cabin in, is the first Boeing B767-400ER aircraft received by Delta. It is currently 18 years old.
The plane operated it last scheduled flight on Dec 31st 2018, from Buenos Aires to Atlanta, it was then flown to Guangzhou for the cabin reconfiguration. She stayed there for more than six months; the aircraft went into testing on Jun 22nd 2019 and was flown to Minneapolis on Jun 25th for cabin certification.
Delta Boeing B767-400ER aircraft with their new cabin product will be operated as a 4-class 764. These aircraft will have 34 Delta One seats, 20 Delta Premium Select seats, 28 Delta Comfort+ seats, and 156 Main Cabin seats.
The Business Class seat number decreased from 40 to 34, which means each seat is taking more space. These 34 staggered seats are in a 1-2-1 configuration ranging from rows 1-9.
These new seats are not so much of an improvement compared to the old seats, considering Delta now can install Delta One Suites on their planes.
New Business Class Routes
Eventually, all Delta flights operated by the Boeing B767-400ER will get this new Business Class seat. Details are as below.
| Routes | Effective Dates |
| Atlanta (ATL) – London Heathrow (LHR) | Nov. 12 |
| New York (JFK) – London Heathrow (LHR) | Nov. 16 |
| Boston (BOS) – London Heathrow (LHR) | Nov. 20 |
| New York (JFK) – Zurich (ZRH) | Dec. 8 |
| New York (JFK) – Brussels (BRU) | Jan. 30 |
| Atlanta (ATL) – Brussels (BRU) | Feb. 22 |
| New York (JFK) – Sao Paulo (GRU) | Mar. 2 |
| Detroit (DTW) – London Heathrow (LHR) | 2Q 2020 |
| Minneapolis (MSP) – London Heathrow (LHR) | 2Q 2020 |
| Portland (PDX) – London Heathrow (LHR) | 2Q 2020 |
| Atlanta (ATL) – Munich (MUC) | 2Q 2020 |
| New York (JFK) – Nice (NCE) | 2Q 2020 |
| Atlanta (ATL) – Zurich (ZRH) | 2Q 2020 |
| Atlanta (ATL) – Buenos Aries (EZE) | 2Q 2020 |
Bottom Line
Delta’s fleet currently has: 13 Airbus A350-900XWBs, 8 Boeing B777-200ERs and 2 Airbus A330-900NEOs, featuring the next generation Delta One product.
However, it is quite disappointing to see what Delta decided to do with their Boeing B767-400ERs. The Business Class product is not Delta One Suite and there are no private doors. When fully reclined, passengers are placed quite close to the ground and the footrests are terribly small. With United having their new 767 Business Class in a 1-1-1 configuration, Delta is still keeping with the narrower 1-2-1 layout.
What do you think about this new Business Class seat? What was your experience on the old seats?