This was from Aviation Week. It'll be nice to be able to keep the computer charged when using GoGo and hopefully some larger overhead bins.


Delta Air Lines is going to reconfigure and upgrade more than 100 of its MD-88 aircraft.

Delta confirmed that it is the carrier named in a press release Monday by Greensboro, N.C.-based Timco Aerosystems, an aircraft interior engineering firm. In the release, Timco said it was chosen by a “major global airline” to help with the installation of new galleys, new first class passenger seats with power ports for personal electronic devices, modified overhead bins and a “high-density seating modification” on more than 100 MD-80 series aircraft.

Delta had 116 MD-88 aircraft in its fleet as of the end of 2009. (The only other carrier operating more than 100 MD-80 series aircraft is American Airlines.) Delta’s MD-88s have 14 first class seats with 37 inches of pitch and 128 economy seats with 17-inch width and 30 to 33 inches of pitch.

Timco said it has already begun engineering preparations, and that work on the first aircraft is scheduled to begin in mid-June.

In late January, Delta announced plans to invest $1 billion through mid-2013 to “improve the customer experience in the air and on the ground,” including improvements on Boeing widebody aircraft and the addition of first class cabins to 66 CRJ-700 aircraft operated by Delta Connection carriers ASA, Comair and SkyWest. But it did not mention the MD-88 aircraft.

Delta declined further comment Monday, referring questions to Timco.