A recent article has answered a very important question for Boeing’s future with Delta Air Lines. As you may know, Delta, prior to the merger with Northwest Airlines, was an all-Boeing airline. Northwest is primarily Airbus oriented, and the new changes to management have sparked questions about Boeing’s future with Delta. Will Delta continue to be an all Boeing airline? Delta’s Chief, Richard Anderson, replied with, ”Delta will be an opportunistic purchaser of airplanes, and that will include both Boeing and Airbus.” It doesn’t stop there; Mr. Anderson said that they will also take Bombardier and Embraer seriously as well, mainly because of their widely varying route map and network.
Mr. Anderson answered questions about the 787 as well, saying that it is a good fit for the newly merged airline. Recall that Delta considered the 787 “too small” for its needs, and prefers the A350. Can we expect Delta to order A350s? I won’t be surprised. Northwest’s ex-Chief, Doug Steenland said that Northwest is likely to act on the 50 options that the subsidiary carrier has with Boeing (so far, Northwest has 18 firm orders with Boeing for the 787).
Delta, like American Airlines, is burdened with the aging fleet of MD-80s. What will replace those? The safe bet is to say the 737NGs that Delta has coming in from Boeing. Personally, I find that the 737NG is a far better performer than the A32X series. It’s my hope that Delta continues their stream of 737s.
I’d like to see the carrier make a move towards Embraer. Other carriers, like US Airways and Air Canada, have invested in the E190 and it has paid off – Fuel Efficiency wise and overall experience. I see the E190 as a good fit for short-medium haul routes and a viable replacement for Northwest’s DC-9s.
Delta making a move for other manufactures besides Boeing will keep Boeing’s sales team on their toes. Remember, Boeing gave up a good deal of their market share in the industry when they took Airbus for granted (just look at AirBerlin). I have no doubt that that will be happening again, but I think Boeing will have to be more competitive for the Delta account – pricing wise. It’s my hope that Delta continues its strong relationship with Boeing for years to come, but we’ll see what they do.
