Leaked: Delta to Increase Airbus A330Neo Order Significantly

Citing unnamed industry sources, Reuters is reporting that European aerospace giant Airbus and Delta have agreed to a deal for the legacy carrier to purchase as many as ten new A330neo aircraft. The agreement is said to be valued at nearly $3billion. Airbus has confirmed the sale but so far refused to name the purchaser.

In October, Airbus announced a major order of ten new A330neo aircraft in a deal worth a reported $3 billion. The European aircraft manufacturer has so far remained tight-lipped about the purchaser behind the rather notable sale, but now Reuters is reporting that the anonymous customer is Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.

Citing unnamed “industry sources,” the news service has indicated that the ten new A330neo planes mark an expansion of the airline’s existing order for 25 of the long-haul wide-body aircraft. Earlier in the month, Airbus confirmed that Kuwait Airways agreed to purchase eight A330neo planes, upping the ante in a battle with Boeing for control of the niche.

If Delta has indeed increased its most recent Airbus order to 35 planes, it could mark something of a turning of the tide in the battle between Airbus and U.S rival Boeing. Sales of new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft have so far well outpaced Airbus, but some analysts believe Boeing’s success may have actually helped Airbus to win its recent orders as Boeing has struggled at times to keep up with demand.

“This was a long and highly competitive campaign,” Boeing spokesman Doug Alder told reporters after losing out to Airbus for Delta’s initial order in 2014. “Boeing competed for the order with the 787-9, but we did not have enough 787 positions available in the time frame that met Delta’s requirement.”

While Airbus’s ever-increasing A330neo order with one of the big three U.S. legacy carriers is something of a black eye for Boeing, the Reuters report notes that at least some recent A330neo orders have come at the expense of existing A350 orders. If it turns out, however, that Delta is the mysterious purchaser behind the latest 10-jet-deal, it would seem that Airbus is effectively competing against Boeing as well as itself.

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