Delta orders 10 more Airbus A321ceos

Delta Air Lines announced an order for 10 Airbus A321ceos at the Paris Air Show June 20, adding to 30 A321s ordered by the Atlanta-based carrier in May. The new order placed at La Bourget is valued at approximately $1.2 billion at list prices. Delta’s A321s are powered by CFM International’s CFM56 engines.

“The A321 is fast becoming a favorite aircraft of our customers and employees alike,” Delta SVP-supply chain management and fleet Greg May said. “[Its] operating economics and customer capacity … make it a great fit for our US domestic network.” 

All totaled, Delta has ordered 122 A321ceos, the first of which was delivered in March 2016.

Many of Delta’s A321s are being delivered from the Airbus US manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama. The airline received its first US-manufactured A321 in December 2016. Airbus said its Mobile facility is expected to produce four aircraft per month by the end of 2017, with most aircraft going to Airbus’ US customers.

Delivery of Delta’s first A350-900 XWB is slated for summer 2017, Airbus said. Four additional A350-900s are to be delivered in 2017, all part of an original order for 25 of the model. Delta reached an agreement with Airbus in May to defer delivery of the next 10 A350s, originally scheduled to be delivered in 2019 and 2020, “by two to three years with additional delivery flexibility,” according to a Delta statement at the time. Delta CEO Ed Bastian referred to an “excess capacity in widebodies as we look to the industry as a whole” during the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call in April.

As of May 31, Delta’s fleet included 188 Airbus aircraft, including 146 A320 family members and 42 A330 widebodies.