Despite having increased orders for wide-body jets from Airbus, Delta Air Lines does not plan to get rid of its large fleet of Boeing 767-300ERs anytime soon.
At an earnings conference held last week, the company’s president, Glen William Hauenstein, stated that “it was our intention to have them out of international long-haul by 2028 and retired by 2030.”
Hauenstein was responding to a question from a bank analyst who recalled that Delta intended to take the 767s out of service by 2025.
Daniel C. Janki, chief financial officer, further reinforced that “as we move through 2025 – 2024 through the back half of the decade, we expect to retire the 767-300s through that period of time on a pretty consistent basis as you step through while continuing to fly the 400s.”
Delta currently has 44 767-300ERs configured with various cabin types and which have been the basis of the airline’s medium and long-haul flights.
The fleet, however, is quite old, with an average age of almost 28 years.
The 767-400ER, with greater seating capacity, is newer, 23 years old on average. The Atlanta-based airline has 21 of these aircraft in its fleet and received a retrofit some time ago.
From Boeing to Airbus
Delta Air Lines is currently Airbus’ largest customer in the United States, with around 460 aircraft in operation in addition to several orders for new jets.
Last week, the company announced an unprecedented order for the A350-1000, Airbus’ largest commercial aircraft and which will fill a gap left by the Boeing 747 in 2018.
Delta still has a large fleet of Boeing jets, mainly widebodies, but also 717, 737 and 757 models, most of which are quite old.
The exception at the moment are the 164 737-900ER, received since 2013. Lately, the airline is preferring to order the A320neo family and also the A220, however, some time ago it decided to make a gesture of rapprochement with Boeing by ordering the 737 MAX .
Follow Air Data News: WhatsApp | Google News | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
In the long-range fleet, however, only Airbus has received orders, such as the A330-900neo and the A350-900.
