Delta has made some exciting passenger experience announcements today. In addition to revealing its new business class suites that will be available on upcoming Airbus A350-1000s, the airline has also announced plans to retrofit its Airbus A330-200/300s with a new (but different) business class product.
Delta A330-200/300s getting new business class suites
Delta has plans to retrofit the interiors of its entire fleet of Airbus A330ceos. Specifically, the airline has 11 A330-200s and 31 A330-300s, and they’re an average of a little over 18 years old. These planes don’t have the newest interiors, and in particular, have pretty outdated reverse herringbone seats in business class (which is marketed as Delta One).
Anyway, Delta intends to introduce new cabins on these planes. The expectation is that the first plane will be reconfigured in early 2027, and that A330-200s will get makeovers before A330-300s.
The new business class seat will be based on the Thompson Aero Vantage XL product, so it’ll probably be most comparable to what you’ll find on existing A330-900neos. However, you can expect an updated design, and greatly improved tech.
Improved tech will include 24″ 4K OLED monitors (the largest you’ll find at any US airline, matching what’s on A350-1000s), bluetooth connectivity, and USB-A, AC, and wireless charging capabilities. Seats will also feature privacy doors. There are no plans to retrofit this product on existing A330-900neos, so the older A330ceos will have nicer interiors than the A330neos.
Delta’s interesting claims about its business class
While Delta isn’t technically wrong, it’s worth looking at the claims the airline is making:
Delta has long been the leader in elevating the customer experience, introducing the first all-suite business class cabin in 2017. It would be four years before any U.S. carrier followed Delta’s lead with an all-suite business class cabin. Delta continues to lead the industry today with the most suites in the sky of any U.S. airline. The airline anticipates 90% of Delta One seats will be suites with sliding privacy doors by 2030.
It’s technically true that Delta was the first US airline to introduce a business class cabin where all seats have doors. Admittedly the airline carved out bragging rights there, to exclude JetBlue (which had suites at some doors first), and to exclude foreign airlines (which introduced business class suites before Delta).
Delta’s claiming that 90% of Delta One seats will have privacy doors by 2030 is an interesting detail. I suspect this means that Delta Boeing 767-400ERs will still be flying internationally in 2030, while presumably this includes Boeing 767-300ERs, which will (hopefully) be retired or just flying domestically.
So yes, it’s true that Delta will likely have a higher percentage of the fleet with doors than American and United. However:
- The airline won’t exactly have a consistent product, as there will be at least four(ish) versions of business class suites
- Just because a seat has a door doesn’t inherently make it better than one without a door; for example, I generally don’t find an A330 business class seat to be as good as an A350 or 787 business class seat, simply due to the implications of the reduced cabin width (and airlines not wanting to give up an extra seat per row)
Bottom line
Delta intends to update the interiors of its fleet of Airbus A330ceos, which includes 11 A330-200s and 31 A330-300s. The airline will introduce an updated version of what it has installed on A330-900neos, but with better tech, new finishes, etc.
The expectation is that the first plane will be reconfigured in early 2027. The airline also claims that by 2030, 90% of Delta One seats will have doors.
What do you make of Delta’s plans to retrofit Airbus A330-200/300s?
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