 | ||
As of February 2017, the Delta Air Lines mainline fleet comprises 848 aircraft in service, making it one of the largest airline fleets in the world. Before merging with Northwest Airlines in 2009, Delta Air Lines operated an all-Boeing and McDonnell Douglas fleet; it incorporated Northwest's Airbus aircraft into its fleet following the merger and subsequently ordered further Airbus types. Delta is known for its policy of generally buying older generation or used aircraft and for continuing to fly aircraft for 20–30 years, much longer than most other major airlines. As such, it has one of the oldest fleets of any American airline, with an average fleet age of 17.1 years as of December 29, 2016. Fellow legacy carriers American Airlines and United Airlines have much younger fleets; as of December 29, 2016, American had an average fleet age of 10.3 years, while United had an average fleet age of 14.1 years.
Contents
Fleet overview
As of February 27, 2017, Delta's fleet consists of 848 Airbus, Boeing, and McDonnell Douglas aircraft. Delta's 483 Boeing aircraft make up about 60% of its fleet, while its 184 Airbus aircraft and 181 McDonnell Douglas aircraft each make up about 20%. Delta's narrow-body aircraft comprise about 80% of its fleet at 698 aircraft, while its 150 wide-body aircraft comprise the remaining 20%.
Delta operates the largest fleets of the Boeing 717, the Boeing 757, the Boeing 767, the McDonnell Douglas MD-80, and the McDonnell Douglas MD-90 worldwide. It is one of only two airlines worldwide operating the Boeing 767-400ER (the other being United Airlines), and the only airline still operating the MD-90 in the world. It is also one of only two passenger airlines in the United States operating the Boeing 747-400 (the other being United Airlines).
Delta has one of the oldest fleets of any American airline, with an average fleet age of 16.9 years as of 2016. Its oldest aircraft types are the MD-88, Boeing 767-300, and Boeing 747-400, which have an average age of 26.2, 24.7, and 24.5 years, respectively. Its youngest aircraft types are the A321-200 and Boeing 737-900ER, which have an average age of 0.2 and 1.7 years, respectively. While Delta is sometimes thought to always purchase older generation or used aircraft, this is not always the case, as evidenced by its order of 25 A350s and 25 A330neo aircraft in November 2014 and its order of 75 Bombardier CSeries 100 aircraft in April 2016.
Delta primarily uses its narrow-body aircraft for domestic flights within the United States and for international flights from the United States to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Most of its McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and Boeing 717 aircraft are based out of Atlanta, where they are mainly used for short-haul flights. Its A320 aircraft, Boeing 737, and Boeing 757 aircraft are used for short-haul flights and medium-haul transcontinental flights. A few of its Boeing 757-200 aircraft are used on long and thin flights to Europe. Delta primarily uses its wide-body aircraft for long-haul flights to Europe, South America, and Asia, though some Boeing 767-300 (non-ER) aircraft operate domestic flights within the United States. Its A330s, Boeing 767-300ERs, and Boeing 767-400ERs mainly operate flights to Europe. Its Boeing 747-400s and Boeing 777-200s mainly operate flights to Asia.
Recent developments
From the merger with Northwest Airlines in 2008 until April 5, 2016, Delta added more than 200 aircraft to its fleet, including A321s, A330-300s, Boeing 717s, Boeing 737-900ERs, Boeing 757-200s, and McDonnell Douglas MD-90s. The majority of these aircraft were delivered between 2013 and 2016 at a pace of about five aircraft a month. During this period Delta also refurbished all mainline aircraft and all two-class regional jets with Economy Comfort seats, with international aircraft receiving Economy Comfort seats in 2011 and domestic aircraft receiving Economy Comfort seats in 2012.
Narrow-body orders
Between 2009 and 2013, Delta purchased and refurbished 49 used MD-90s, bringing its MD-90 fleet to 65 aircraft. Delta opted to buy used MD-90s rather than brand-new Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft because the MD-90s were cheaper in terms of the total cost of ownership, which takes capital expenses and operating expenses into account. In early 2011, Delta began to discuss replacement plans for the DC-9, older A320, and 757-200 aircraft with manufacturers Airbus, Boeing, and Bombardier. On August 25, 2011, Delta ordered 100 Boeing 737-900ER aircraft for delivery between 2013 and 2018 as it retires older mainline jets and upgrades its fleet. The new aircraft are intended to improve the company's profitability.
On May 22, 2012, Delta agreed to sublease 88 AirTran Boeing 717 aircraft from Southwest Airlines. These used aircraft were primarily intended to replace inefficient 50-seat regional jets flown by Delta Connection and some older DC-9s. The Boeing 717s were scheduled to enter service over a three-year period: 16 in 2013, an additional 36 in 2014, and the remaining 36 in 2015. Delta bought three additional 717s from Finnish airline Blue1 in 2015, bringing its total to 91 aircraft. Delta Air Lines officially retired its DC-9s from mainline service on January 6, 2014; however, two DC-9s continued to be used on an as-needed basis until January 22 because of delayed Boeing 717 deliveries.
Airbus orders
On September 4, 2013, Delta ordered 10 Airbus A330-300s and 30 A321s, with the A330s to be delivered between 2015 and 2017 and the A321s to be delivered between 2016 and 2017. With this order Delta became the launch customer for the enhanced 242-ton maximum takeoff weight A330-300, which is slightly more fuel-efficient and thus has greater payload capacity and range. On June 2, 2014, Delta ordered an additional 15 A321 aircraft to be delivered starting in 2018, bringing its A321 order total to 45 aircraft.
On November 20, 2014, Delta ordered 50 Airbus wide-body jets to replace its aging Boeing 747-400s and 767-300ERs. 25 A350-900 aircraft will be delivered beginning in 2017 and will replace Delta's Boeing 747-400s on routes to Asia. 25 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft will be delivered beginning in 2019 and will replace 767-300ERs on routes to Europe and on certain routes between the West Coast and Asia.
On December 27, 2016, Delta cancelled the order for 18 Boeing 787-8 aircraft placed in 2005 by Northwest Airlines prior to their merger. In 2010 Delta had deferred the Boeing 787-8 deliveries until at least 2020 in an attempt to reduce capital spending. When Delta ordered 100 Boeing 737-900ERs in 2011, it negotiated the right to substitute them for the Boeing 787-8 orders on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Also, since Delta has ordered 60 Airbus wide body-aircraft since 2013, it has no need for additional wide-body aircraft in the next few years, especially given the current overcapacity on international routes as of 2017.
Additional narrow-body orders
On June 10, 2015, Delta announced it would acquire 20 used Embraer 190s and order 40 new Boeing 737-900ERs upon pilot ratification of a tentative labor agreement. However, on July 15, 2015, Delta cancelled the orders after pilots rejected the tentative contract proposal. Then, on December 16, 2015, Delta re-announced the order for 20 used Embraer 190s and 20 new Boeing 737-900ERs, bringing its 737-900ER order total to 120 aircraft.
On April 28, 2016, Delta announced an order for 75 Bombardier CS100s, options for 50 additional C Series aircraft and the ability to substitute to the larger CS300 aircraft. C Series deliveries will begin in 2018. It was also announced that the 20 Embraer 190s would not join the fleet. On April 29, 2016, Delta announced an order for 37 additional A321s to be delivered through 2019, bringing its A321 order total to 82 aircraft.
Current fleet
The following table represents Delta Air Lines mainline fleet types and layouts in service as of February 2017. Note that the total fleet size given below (847) differs from the total fleet size given on Delta's website (830). This is because this article is updated more often than Delta's website and because Delta does not consider the 11 757-200s currently operating as VIP charters to be part of its active fleet.
Historical Delta Air Lines fleet
Delta Air Lines had an all-Boeing (including McDonnell Douglas aircraft) fleet until its merger with Northwest Airlines.
Retired fleet
*Delta operated the DC-10 twice, once on lease from United before the L-1011s could be delivered, and again when Delta acquired Western Airlines in 1987.
**Delta experimented with Airbus A310 aircraft for two to three years after acquiring the planes from Pan Am. Initially Delta was impressed enough with the aircraft to order more of the same model, but these were eventually withdrawn from service by the mid 1990s.
***Delta originally had DC-9-30s from 1967 to 1993. Delta sold some of their DC-9-30s back to McDonnell Douglas who sold them to ValuJet, forming ValuJet's initial fleet. ValuJet would eventually become Delta's main Atlanta-based rival, AirTran Airways. However, Delta inherited a fleet of -30s in 2008 when they had merged with Northwest Airlines. Two of these, N3322L and N3324L, had been delivered to Delta in 1967.
Delta Air Lines fleet prior to the jet era
Up until the late 1960s, Delta Air Lines operated a fleet of propeller operated aircraft, including among others, the Convair 340, Convair 440, Curtiss C-46 Commando, Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-4, Douglas DC-6, Douglas DC-7, Lockheed Constellation, and Lockheed L-100 Hercules. The Curtiss C-46 Commando and Lockheed L-100 Hercules aircraft were operated as cargo aircraft.