Delta to order 737-900s, small airplane order deferred

Bloomberg News just tweeted Delta Air Lines is to order 100 Boeing 737-900s. WE have three sources saying the same, though without the number.

Boeing won the deal over the Airbus A320/320neo due to earlier delivery positions and price, we are told.

Update, 9:50am PDT: We heard last week that Delta may defer ordering the 100-150 seat airplane and while we’ve been working to confirm this, Flightblogger beat us to it.

UPDATE 12:46 PM ET: CONFIRMED – Delta will order 100 737-900ER aircraft, the largest single order for the type. Further, industry sources confirm that a selection of a smaller narrowbody that pitted the CSeries against the Embraer E-195 has been delayed, as the airline does not see the same level of urgency to replace its 757s starting in 2013. The airline’s aircraft evaluations excluded consideration of the re-engined narrowbodies from Airbus and Boeing. FULL STORY SHORTLY

29 Comments on “Delta to order 737-900s, small airplane order deferred

  1. Congradulations to DL and Boeing on the B-737-900ER order. I say -900ER because I don’t believe Boeing is offering the B-737-900 non-ER version anymore. I assume these will be older B-757 replacements?

    • You are correct these are -900ER. We just use shorthand in naming the plane these days cuz the -900 is no longer produced. You are also correct that these are 757 replacements.

  2. Interesting….my guess was the “NEB737” for the A319/A320 replacement and A321NEO for B757 replacements.

    I think a few have stated that Airbus is starting to possibly (but not definitely) lose some orders due to slot availability due to the enormous success of the A32XNEO.

    Regardless, its nice to see Boeing win this (part) of the order and hopefully the “tsunami” of “NEB737” orders start flowing in.

  3. @Myself:

    Are these going to be the NEB737-900ER or the current generation B739ER? I would have assumed they are going to be the new-engined version…

    • One source suggests a mix of 737-900s/9s but we understood the -9 wasn’t part of the original bid. We would not be at all surprised to see conversion rights however.

      • Interesting…thanks.

        I guess the order is somewhat vague. Maybe DL will discuss this in detail sometime down the road.

  4. Pingback: Delta to order 100 B737-900s - FlyerTalk Forums

  5. Too bad Boeing pulled the plug on the 757 line. They tore down 10-50 assembly building, shut off the supply chain, and broke up the tooling. A 757RE would have been an awesome airplane: glass cockpit, updated systems, winglets or raked wingtips, sky interior, and new engines without any restrictions on fan diameter

  6. DL’s (NWAs) DNA striking again.

    They have a track record of closing opportunistic deals against the mainstream to make big savings. (investing in dated DC9s, DC10s, MD90s when they are real cheap, early A320 order, big A330 order, 744 launch customer).

    A321s have been pushed back, sold out. Leahy’s smile during the last meeting probably was too obvious. Boeing is ready for “strategic” pricing after being kicked around the place for a year.

    No, the 737-900ER isn’t the ideal 757 replacement and it won´t be as capable as the A321NEO. A good range, 10-12% more efficient then the 737NG and having 10% more capasity then the 737-800 is a useful asset for the enormous Delta network anyway.

    An undisclosed sharp price, 2015 quick deliveries, plus Leahy´s confidence dented when negotiating the 300 more NB orders/ options, a smart deal IMO.

  7. Boeing won the deal over the Airbus A320/320neo due to earlier delivery positions and price…

    Delivery position factor is not a big surprise, but the price is one!

    This may have interesting consequences for Boeing since the agreements in places with other US carriers.

  8. Everybody wins in this market. Having huge demand for bigger narrowbodies and only two players in the segment means that even the second place finisher gets a big fat order book.

  9. DL said a long time ago they wanted as early delivery dates as possible as they wanted to begin replacing their oldest B-757s and MD-88s. They also want mid term delivery dates as the rest of the B-757s, MD-88s, A-320s/-319s. and MD-90s get older. It seems only Boeing can give DL the delivery dates they want.

    DL also wants to reduce the number of types of airplanes they fly. But, they have not started looking for a B-767-300ER replacement, yet. Many of those airplanes are at, or over 20 years old.

    DL has said they want about 150 NB airplanes in the first round, they apparently ordered 100 B-737-900ERs/-9s (hope we find out the break-down soon). Does this mean they might also order 50-100 B-737-800s/-8s soon?

    Now that Boeing (apparently) has two orders for the B-737NE/RE/WHATEVER (in two versions, the AA -8s and the DL -9s), does this bring more pressure on the BOD to approve the launch later this month? This is about a week and a half left in August, so they should be holding their meeting very soon.

  10. Interesting, but I want to be sure about something, this is an order for the 739ER classic right not a NE739? So does it mean they won’t be considering either the RE or NEO and will just wait for whatever Boeing or Airbus’ new offering will be or will they consider the re-engine offerings for only 738/A320 sized planes?

    • This is an order for the 737-900ER “Classic.” But we understand there will be conversion rights to the 737RE.

  11. DL also has done some of their own moification and reengining work, in house. They did it with the L-1011s, in the `80s and `90s and they reengined their own DC-8s back in the early `80s. They could be planning to do the same with the B-737NGs, too. (I am just guessing).

  12. What is the real signification of that ?: “The airline’s aircraft evaluations excluded consideration of the re-engined narrowbodies from Airbus and Boeing.” Because DL want a new narrowbody aircraft ?

    • Hmm,
      the fleet renewal has a (relatively) hard deadline before 2015..17
      and/or 757 fuel costs are eating Delta alive submerging any chance
      of a better but later replacement profile.

      It would be interesting to know about prices in the contract.
      Mentioning list values ist just a distraction here.

      • I agree Uwe. But, I don’t ever expect to see any info on the actual sales price for DL. I don’t recall any airline, or OEM, ever fully releasing that info publicly. If it was a really good price, I doubt any OEM would want that info out to all their other customers.

    • Sadly no. They need fuel efficiency improvements yesterday, and do not want to buy new to get it if they can avoid it. .

  13. To me it sounds like DL really wanted to get on with the B-757 replacement. A lot of the 170+ B-757s DL has are high time and high cycle airplanes. DL wants to begin replacing these in 2013 or so. Since most of DL’s B-757s are not used to the full capability, usually only flown on TRANSCON or SLT to the east coast, the B-737-900ER will be a good and economical replacement aircraft. DL does fly some of their B-757s TATL as well as to Hawaii from the west coast, but those airplanes are generally newer aircraft and only about 10-12 years old, including the former TWA/AA B-752s.

  14. I smell a 3-way deal. DL is desperate to get rid of its gas guzzling, maintenance intensive DC-9/MD-80/757s, SWA operates lots of 717s it does not want now that it is continuing with its 737 exclusivity, B hold the leases on most of those 717s, and B desperately wants to sell 737s to DL to keep A out. So B helps DL get 86 717s (and maybe others one which it may hold leases), DL buys lots of 739s, SWA gets a sweet deal on the hundreds of 737NG/NEs for at least a decade by essentially trading in its 717s, and B keeps Leahy away from DL not only with the first 100 739s, but also for the second 100-plane batch with the 717s. The key here I think, is that the 717 was available in large enough numbers for a buyer who really wants them. This will not be the case with U/Continental.

    • Sounds like a good possibility. Maybe Delta can get the 717 pilots with the planes.

  15. Oh, and I should add one more plus for B (and for A!) from DL’s deferral of the second batch of 100 planes: Once again, Bombardier gets screwed out a hoped-for C Series order. What’s not to like? That’s my theory, at least.

  16. Christopher Dye aka CubJ3 :Sadly no. They need fuel efficiency improvements yesterday, and do not want to buy new to get it if they can avoid it. .

    Fuel efficiency is just one cost matrix for operating any airliner. Some costs are pretty much fixed, like crew costs per year, others, like fuel, maintenance, and spares are not. All airliners must make money for their airlines on nearly every sortie. That means sellng one more seat, of carrying one more peice of cargo beyond break-even when all costs are considered. So an airline may not place as high a demand on fuel efficiency if it more concerned with other operationg costs and costs of ownership/lease payments. More fuel efficient airplanes will demand higher lease payments.

    Christopher Dye aka CubJ3 :Oh, and I should add one more plus for B (and for A!) from DL’s deferral of the second batch of 100 planes: Once again, Bombardier gets screwed out a hoped-for C Series order. What’s not to like? That’s my theory, at least.

    Wheather or not DL leases B-717s, or not really depends on WN. The rumor is they will keep them, other rumors say no. But there are some 20-25 B-717s from MX sitting in the desert and available now from Boeing. DL has not taken them, even though they are immediately available to replace the DC-9-50s.

    So, I think the BBD oprder is secure, but deferred for about a year. See what the economy looks like a year from now, or more likely 18 months from now.

    • “Fuel efficiency is just one (point in the) cost matrix for operating any airliner.”

      If it were so, better engines would not sell.

      Fuelcost is _the major contributor_ to direct cost per flight.

      You can bargain with your crews for delayed/lowered payments
      but no oilmulti will take you up on that.
      With a cheap to hold fuelguzzler your susceptibility to fuel price
      increases disproportionally _and_ volatiitly of the market for
      you changes from distraction to lifetaking illness.

      Compare to the auto market. With high taxes on petrol having already
      raised demand for fuel efficient motors in Europe exposure to fuel price
      increases was a lot less than in the US.
      ( in a twofold way actually: fuel is a smaller percentile _and_ the taxoverhead
      reduces the translation from crude prices to fuel prices.)

  17. KC # 26 Agreed re “Fuel efficiency is just one…” In fact, DL seems to doing everthing they can to avoid buying new planes instead of used; eg MD-90s to replace DC-9s/MD80s, and deferring to the early 2020s NW’s 787 order, and saying that they are not in the mkt for wide bodies. That’s why I thinkdthink the 717 mayb part of the 739 order.

    “The rumor is they will keep them, other rumors say no. The rumor is they will keep them, other rumors say no.”

    It’s not a rumor. SWA wants to get rid of the 717s, and I recall DL’ making some statement to the effect that they liked the 717. See http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/08/05/360443/southwest-appears-less-bullish-on-717.html

    Maybe DL was waiting to get ones in the desert until they had locked SWA’s?

    I still think a Boeing/SW announcement may be made soon.

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