Delta Air Lines' chief operating officer Gil West has told FlightGlobal on the sidelines of an Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson media event unveiling the carrier's A350-900 products that the US carrier was currently "in the middle of a RFP process" to explore orders for additional narrowbody aircraft.
The order for either A320neo or B737 MAX aircraft from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) or Boeing (BOE, Washington National) would be used to replace older narrowbody aircraft currently in its fleet. According to ch-aviation fleets data, Delta currently operates fifty-seven A319-100s, sixty-five A320-200s, twenty-six A321-200s, ninety-one B717-200s, ten B737-700s, seventy-seven B737-800s, eighty-four B737-900(ER)s, 113 B757-200s, sixteen B757-300s, 113 MD-88s and sixty-two MD-90s. Unlike its competitors American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) and United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare), Delta has not yet ordered any new generation engine narrowbody aircraft from either manufacturer.
It does however have seventy-five A220-100 aircraft on order from Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) with Airbus having announced earlier this week that it will take a 51% stake in the C Series programme.
