Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has today disclosed that it has ordered a further 15 Airbus A220 aircraft (formerly called the Bombardier CSeries).
This order is on top of its existing order for 75 A220-100 aircraft placed in April 2016. At the same time the airline has announced that it has converted 50 of the 90 aircraft on order to the larger A220-300 model. This switch enables Delta Air Lines to operate the aircraft at even lower costs than before due to the higher seat capacity. It is currently unclear whether this order will account for the 2018 numbers which Airbus will release later today.
The first A220-300 aircraft will be delivered from Airbus’ plant in Mobile, Alabama in 2020 and Delta expects to take delivery of all A220-300 aircraft by 2023. The current plan is to equip the A220-300 with a total of 130 seats in domestic First Class, Economy Comfort+ with more legroom and regular Economy Class.
Delta currently plans to start revenue service with the A220-100, of which it already has four, on January 31st. However, this date may be jeopardized by the current Government Shutdown in the United States during which the FAA cannot oversee the certification process necessary to operate the aircraft.
Last week, both JetBlue and a yet-to-be-named airline with the project name ‘Moxy’, founded by David Neelemann, ordered 60 Airbus A220-300 aircraft each.
Read more: Delta announces first Airbus A220 routes
Jan-Hendrik is an aviation enthusiast from Germany, loves to travel the world and fly on as many aircraft as possible. His first flight was with a Condor 757 to Spain and has been interested in aviation ever since. His fields of expertise are aircraft accidents and passenger experience (PaxEx).