Originally Posted by
3Cforme
True, but entirely by virtue of CO's purchases and UA's retirements. I don't believe legacy-UA has taken delivery of a new mainline aircraft in nearly a decade.
As for lease/own, it was mentioned upthread that the 717s will be leased from Southwest, who has leased them from Boeing.
I don't think UA has received any aircraft since circa 2002. They did announce the 787 and A350 order in summer 2009 before the CO merger. Fortunately, with CO management largely in control we'll see more new planes and hopefully Boeing aircraft too.
True, but most of the other aircraft DL has acquired like second hand MD-90s will be owned. But still, it would appear DL is certainly pursuing a less capital intensive fleet strategy than AA and UA. With the volatile nature of fuel prices, it will interesting to see 5-10 years down the road when plenty of carriers are flying 787s and DL has refurbished fuel guzzling 30 year-old 763, albeit at lower capital costs.