Delta Air Lines will be introducing a new, more premium layout on some of its upcoming Airbus A350s. While seat maps began to reflect this back in December 2023, the airline has now formally announced these plans.
Delta plans A350s with more business class seats
Delta intends to introduce a new premium configuration on some of its Airbus A350-900s, featuring more business class seats. For context, Delta currently has 29 A350s in its fleet, with an additional 15 of these jets on order. Currently, Delta has its standard A350 layout, plus it has a special, less premium layout on some aircraft that were acquired from LATAM.
For some of its upcoming A350 deliveries, the airline plans to introduce a different layout. Specifically, the jet’s overall capacity is decreasing by 31 seats, from 306 seats to 275 seats, with the breakdown of seats changing as follows:
- Delta One (business class) is going from 32 seats to 40 seats, as it gains two additional rows of seats behind the second set of doors
- Delta Premium Select (premium economy) is going from 48 seats to 40 seats, as it loses one row of seats
- Delta Comfort+ (extra legroom economy) is maintaining 36 seats
- Delta Main Cabin (economy class) is going from 190 seats to 159 seats, as a few rows of seats are being eliminated
As you can tell, Delta is swapping eight premium economy seats for eight business class seats, and in the process is losing 31 economy seats.
Delta has announced the first two routes that are expected to get this new configuration:
- Atlanta (ATL) to Johannesburg (JNB) should see premium A350s as of as of June 20, 2024
- Atlanta (ATL) to Cape Town (CPT) should see premium A350s as of September 9, 2024
However, Delta hasn’t yet revealed how many A350-900s are expected to get this layout, so it remains to be seen if this layout will be installed on all newly delivered A350s, or just a handful of them. And of course this says nothing of Delta’s order for A350-1000s, which will join the carrier’s fleet as of 2026.
Why Delta is changing its A350 configuration
While Delta is generally able to command a revenue premium among US airlines, the airline is conservative about the size of its premium cabins, especially on long haul flights. For example, the A350 is Delta’s flagship aircraft, and the airline currently just has 32 business class seats on those planes.
Meanwhile United’s 777-300ERs have 60 business class seats and United’s 787-9s have 48 business class seats. So it’s interesting to see the different strategies the two airlines take. I’m not sure if Delta just isn’t able to sell as many business class seats as United, or if Delta believes it can command the highest fares with these smaller premium cabins.
So, is Delta increasing the size of its A350 business class cabin a general trend shift, or is there more to it? Delta’s Atlanta to South Africa routes are the carrier’s two longest flights, and the airline often has weight restrictions on the westbound flights, especially when departing Johannesburg (which is at a high altitude, and therefore has reduced takeoff performance).
Delta acknowledges that these routes will see the more premium A350s due to the “improved operational performance” they offer. This will allow the airline to have fewer weight restriction issues when departing the airport, allowing Delta to carry more cargo.
Bottom line
Delta is introducing a new Airbus A350 configuration in the coming months. This will feature eight extra business class seats, eight fewer premium economy seats, and 31 fewer economy seats. This configuration will be debuting on Delta’s longest routes that are weight restricted, and improved operational performance is one of the reasons for this configuration.
Only time will tell how many Delta A350-900s get this more premium configuration, as that hasn’t yet been revealed. It could just be on the two Africa routes, or maybe it’ll be on all newly delivered A350-900s.
What do you make of Delta’s new premium A350 configuration?
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