Delta Air Lines fleet

Delta's fleet consists of 840 Airbus and Boeing aircraft. 530 Boeing aircraft make up about 63% of Delta's fleet, while its 310 Airbus aircraft make about 37%. Its 685 narrow-body aircraft comprise about 82% of its fleet, while its 155 wide-body aircraft comprise the remaining 18%.

Delta operates the largest fleets of the Boeing 717, the Boeing 757, and the Boeing 767 worldwide. Alongside United Airlines, it is one of only two airlines worldwide operating the Boeing 767-400ER. Additionally, as of June 2020, Delta was the last airline in the world operating the MD-90.

Delta has one of the oldest fleets of any United States airline, with an average fleet age of 14.5 years as of 2020.[2] Its oldest aircraft types are the Boeing 757-200, Boeing 767-300ER, and Airbus A320-200, which have an average age of 22.4, 23.6 and 24.4 years, respectively. Its youngest aircraft types are the Boeing 737-900ER, Airbus A350-900, Airbus A321-200, Airbus A220-100, and Airbus A330-900neo, which have an average age of 3.3, 1.8, 1.7, 0.6, and 0.5 years, respectively.[3]

Delta's previous fleet strategy focused on purchasing older generation or used aircraft at low cost, but recently began a large fleet renewal project with 25 A350-900 and 25 A330-900 aircraft (ordered November 2014) and its order of 95 Airbus A220 (both the -100 and -300 variant) aircraft.[4]

In September 2013, Delta ordered 30 A321, its first order with Airbus in more than two decades.[5] Delta ordered 15 more in 2014,[6] an additional 37 in 2016,[7] and 40 more in 2017.[8][9]

In addition, Delta ordered 100 A321neo aircraft in December 2017 to replace its aging McDonnell Douglas MD-80/90 series and Boeing 757s.[10] Delta primarily uses narrow-body aircraft for its domestic flights within the United States and international flights from the United States to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and some European destinations. Most of its Boeing 717 aircraft are based in Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and are mainly used for short-haul flights.[11] Its Airbus A220, Airbus A320, Boeing 737 and Boeing 757 aircraft are used for short-haul flights and medium-haul transcontinental flights, while some of its Boeing 757-200 aircraft are used on long and thin flights to Europe. Delta primarily uses its wide-body aircraft on long-haul flights to Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and South America. Its Airbus A330s, Boeing 767-300ERs,[12] and Boeing 767-400ERs mainly operate on flights to Europe, while the Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 777-200s mainly operate on flights to Asia. In September 2019, Delta Air Lines annouced that it was taking a 20% stake in LATAM. As part of this deal, Delta will takeover LATAM's purchase rights for 6 A350-1000 and 4 A350-900.[13]

In a memo on March 18, 2020, to company employees, Delta CEO Ed Bastian announced that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on airline operations, they accelerated the retirement of the remaining MD-88 and MD-90 aircraft, as well as some older Boeing 767s.[14] All the MD-88 and MD-90 aircraft were retired on June 2, 2020, with its final revenue flight from Washington-Dulles to Atlanta on MD-88 (DL88), and from Houston to Atlanta on MD-90 (DL90), becoming the last operator to fly the MD-90 and as well the last major U.S. airlines to fly the MD-88. The retirement of their MD-88s and MD-90s officially ended the 80-year era of Delta flying Douglas and McDonnell Douglas aircraft which started in 1940, with the DC-3.[15] Furthermore, on May 14, 2020, Delta announced that the airline will be retiring their Boeing 777s as a result of the pandemic, and to further simplify their wide-body fleet in favor of the Airbus A350-900s.[16]

As of June 2020, Delta Air Lines fleet consists of the following aircraft:[3][17][18]

• Pither, Tony (1999). Boeing 707, 727 and KC-135. Air Britain Historians. ISBN 978-0851302362.