Of the "big three" US airlines, Delta has the oldest average fleet age (somewhere around 16.1 years, compared to United's 15 years, and American's 10.7 years). I actually think Delta has the right idea. It's silly to buy new planes when you can instead get older planes and simply maintain them well. For example, I'd…
Continue reading: Delta Orders Additional Airbus A220s
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A220?? (typo in the headline) I clicked thinking Airbus came out with a new model.
I am very excited about this plane.
Is this a Delta replacement or expansion? Would be nice to see them expand their markets
It's not about the age of the plane but the configuration. A older configuration for the AA 737 MAX's would be a much better experience.
AA continues to not recognize the long-term consequence of the race to the bottom for it's product.
The middle seat isn't larger on these planes. Delta decided it could make every seat 18" wide, not just the middle one. That was some selling point gimmick from Bombardier
Delta has taken delivery of 4 of these I believe.
Also, is that average fleet age still right? 100 new 739s, 100 new A321s, the 15 A350s...Hasn't that helped any?
Finally, no more noisy MD-88s and -90s here in Minneapolis. It's been a long 25 years.
Certainly an upgrade from those skanky 717's! I flew one of those last week and thought my head would spin off before the flight ended.
Eric/SC,
I have a rule that I don't fly rear-engined planes.
Although I did have a soft spot for the old Lockheed L-1011's back in the day
I heard Doug Parker is in negotiations to buy the A220 with one row of first class seats, only one bathroom, and 3-3 seating in coach. He said you won't notice the more narrow seats because they're just going to remove the armrests. Also, he said there is no need for entertainment because they won't be putting the plane on flights over seven hours. Main Cabin will have 29"pitch while MCE will enjoy a spacious 30".
I hope they hurry up and slap some of these on the West Coast. LAX/SFO/PDX/SEA/YVR/LAS would be awesome.
Yet American didn’t install seat back entertainment on their longer range 737 Max planes, I wonder why people fly Amercian
The Mobile, Alabama plant only delivers planes to US customers, though, right? The rest of the world gets theirs from Canada?
Yes, Delta's average fleet age is actually still 16.1 years right now. That said, the A321s, 739s, and A350s (and new A330s) have dropped it quite a bit already and it will drop quite a bit more over the next few years as more 321s, 739s, A330s, A220s, and A350s enter service, while older 763s, MD-88s, and MD-90s are (finally) retired.
@Ray,
Probably depends on delivery schedule but Mobile AL assembly plant was designed for US orders to get around Boeing antidumping complaints.
Bravo to Delta. I'll be glad to see more A220s in this config flying domestically.
Meanwhile Boeing is crying in the corner for helping give Airbus a clean sheet design aircraft.
Lucky I’m not so sure you’d be singing the praises of Delta’s mentality of old fleet to make shareholders happy if you were a PAX on one of their md-88s. These delta birds are making an emergency landing once a month on average for failed JT8D engines that spew their guts on the runways. Doesn’t get much press, expect on AvHerald. It should be noted that of the big 3 Delta was the only one not in the top 20 safest worldwide airlines. Yes they are staring to finally replace these crumbling jets... but let’s hope everyone makes it safely home until they do... at least the flight attendants will thank Pax for their loyalty on the exit shoot. Sorry to be so cynical, but there is a lot of delta fawning going on here and not enough credit to the other us airlines for their safety records.