Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) has announced an updated delivery schedule for its B737-10 order, with the first aircraft now set to arrive at the earliest in 2026.
In its third-quarter 2024 financial report, Delta disclosed that Boeing expects to deliver the first twenty B737-10s in 2026, followed by 80 more thereafter. This shifts the timeline from the original 2025 target. However, Delta's CEO, Ed Bastian, noted earlier this year that delays might extend into 2027.
Delta placed an order for 100 B737-10s in 2022, with options for 30 more. Both the B737-10 and the smaller B737-7 are still awaiting certification by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Boeing’s former CEO, Dave Calhoun, suggested earlier this year that this could occur in 2025, but stressed that the FAA will determine the final timeline.
Boeing is also facing multiple problems, including increased regulatory scrutiny and labour disruptions from a strike involving 33,000 workers, which has nearly halted operations while intensifying delivery delays even more. To address its woes, the US planemaker recently announced the offloading of 10% of its workforce, the delay of the B777X, and the halting of the B767-300F program in 2026.
As of September 30, 2024, Delta’s purchase commitments entail 305 aircraft - seventy-four A220-300s, ninety-one A321-200Ns, nine A330-900Ns, eleven A350-900s, twenty A350-1000s, and 100 B737-8s. The carrier has taken delivery of 27 planes so far in 2024, including nine in the third quarter. “We continue to expect our fleet growth to be less than 2% this year with 20 net aircraft additions as half of our new deliveries are replacements,” Daniel Janki, chief financial officer and executive vice president at Delta, said during the airline’s investors call.
Restoring full regional capacity
Janki said Delta expects to resume its full regional capacity in the summer of 2025. Going into 2025, “we’re going to continue to get utilisation out of the fleet and better utilisation out of the regional aircraft [which] will be, by next summer, 100% restored,” he said. Delta’s regional capacity is handled by SkyWest Airlines, Republic Airways, and subsidiary Endeavor Air. In total they operate 317 planes for Delta, including seventeen CRJ700s, 157 CRJ900s, eleven E170s, and 132 E175s.
