No Surprise: Delta Cancels Their 787 Order

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: December 27, 2016

32 comments

Delta has just announced that they’ve canceled their order of Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Delta had 18 of these on order, which were set to be delivered in 2020 and beyond. These were ordered by Northwest back in 2005, and Delta has repeatedly deferred the delivery of these, which is why the order being scrapped isn’t surprising.

delta-787

Here’s Delta’s press release regarding the order cancelation:

Delta Air Lines has reached an agreement with The Boeing Company to cancel an order placed for 18 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft that Delta assumed in 2008 as part of its merger with Northwest Airlines.

While specific terms of the agreement are not disclosed, Delta will continue to take delivery of new 737-900ER aircraft through 2019 as two orders totaling 120 of the narrowbody jet are fulfilled.

“Delta is one of the world’s largest operators of Boeing aircraft and our valued partnership with Boeing will remain strong as we safely and comfortably serve our customers across the world every day,” said Greg May, Senior Vice President – Supply Chain Management and Fleet. “This business decision is consistent with Delta’s fleet strategy to prudently address our widebody aircraft needs.”

In 2010, Delta deferred the order to a 2020 and beyond delivery timeline.

So, what’s Delta’s motivation for canceling their 787 order? I suspect there are a few factors at play:

Delta already has 25 A350-900 and 25 A330-900NEO aircraft on order, which is a significant expansion of their international fleet
In addition to that, Delta has repeatedly stated their interest in picking up used planes at huge discounts; given how many airlines retire planes after just 10 years, there’s a lot of merit to picking up used planes rather than buying new ones
While both planes have low operating costs on a per passenger basis, the A350-900 has a significantly greater capacity than the 787-8

Bottom line

Delta canceling their 787 order is news, though hardly comes as a surprise, given that they’ve deferred delivery of these planes, and have 50 Airbus widebody aircraft on order. I can’t say I mind too much, since I prefer the A350 to the 787 from a passenger standpoint.

I’m curious how much the order cancelation cost Delta. Given that these were long term deliveries and the two companies have worked together for so long, I suspect the cancelation cost wasn’t too punitive.

Are you surprised to see Delta cancel their 787 order?

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Ziyu Lu Guest

August 26, 2020, 11:57 am

Yayy! No 3-3-3 narrow seating on the 787!

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Ted Guest

December 18, 2019, 5:45 am

So many sad ignorant people with all this anti foreign nonsense aka Delta is not buying American crap etc. The problem is the American corporate mindset why do you think GM and or the US car market when down the drain? Poor design, manufacturing and marketing its the reason why hardly anyone buys American cars anymore same goes for airplanes especially after McD married Boeing now greedy shady business, shoddy workmanship and lies etc are Boeing's trademark these days. Delta has to make money and wasting or going out of business due to some outdated patriotic notion is stupid. I come from a pilots point of view and most commercial pilots that I know would choose flying any Airbus over the new Boeing and their planes any day of the week. The problem with Boeing of today is numerous and widespread.

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L Rodriguez Guest

September 16, 2019, 7:36 pm

I used to fly ONLY Delta for many years. Now that they are buying non-American and used planes they won’t see my face ever again.

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AlexS Diamond

February 23, 2017, 6:21 pm

@Eric: They will be -- Airbus now have a factory in Mobile, Alabama, where US-made A319, A320, A321 aircraft will be going to Delta, JetBlue, AA, and others. Keep in mind Boeing is moving some of its operations to China, with the full intent of building 737s in China, not Seattle. Delta has their own, very capable, MRO. The old aircraft are paid for, so other than insurance there's no cost to have them other than maintenance/repairs. Until fuel prices start to skyrocket, it's MUCH cheaper to run the old birds into the ground. It's the same reason why many people drive older cars -- it's paid for, why take on new debt for no real gain/benefit? Keep in mind aircraft aren't static like cars. Interiors can and are upgraded, flight systems are upgraded. Even engines sometimes see upgrades. Other than the lack of IFE, I don't mind the Mad Dogs. Very quiet aircraft if you're sitting up front and the last one I was on had a newer interior, even 100% LED lighting inside. Other than the funky 1980s intercom panel by the purser, the cabin never gave a clue that you were in a 20+ year old aircraft.

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Alex Guest

February 23, 2017, 7:15 am

@MontanaOsprey. I am pretty sure it was a factor. Boeing was using exim bank to finance foreign airlines aircraft purchase from them at prefferable interest rates. Interest rates that they dont extend to Delta etc. Exim bank....i read somewhere, correct me if i am wrong ...is taxpayers money, which in turn is being used to finance the arab carriers who dont care if they make or lose money, thereby threatening US carriers by flying with empty seats at a 60% rate plus cheap tix to boot.

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