Originally Posted by
readywhenyouare
This thread is about the A350. Supposedly DTW is the first crembase for the A350. I was stating that if anything happens to the auto industry the hub there won't be able to support all of those Asia flights. I have not knocked or advocated for DTW to lose any service like some people have wished on other hubs. I think Delta would have been safer with the 788. They could probably sustain DTW-HND and or ICN even if GM or Chrysler fail. But filling a behemoth like the A350 would be unrealistic if that happens. Smaller is always better. You can always raise prices if demand is high. But if demand sinks you will be in a world of hurt trying to fill ~350 seats.
Also, the only reason big airplanes work for international airlines is because they typically only have one hub. BA-LHR, AF-CDG, KLM-AMS, KE-ICN, etc. Delta has upwards of a dozen TATL/TPAC gateways. Smaller aircraft spread among the gateways just makes more sense.
You do realise Delta's A350-900 will seat 306, whereas the 777s current seat 291 and after they are refurbished, 296. Delta ruled out the 777-300ER and the A350-1000 as they deemed both aircraft too big for their system. I recall Andersen said they wanted an aircraft 20% smaller than the 376 seat 747s. The A350-900 configuration is just about 20% smaller than the 747s. During the RFP, when it was down to the 787-9 and the A350-900, Boeing offered to sell Delta an additional six 77Ls, allowing Delta to retire the remaining 747s, with the ten 242 tonne A330s they had on order. As Delta had deferred the 787-8s until 2020, there was no way Delta could expedite their delivery, especially since 2014 was time Boeing was trying to delivery 14 787s a month in order to lesson the backlog. Ironically, it was probably Emirates' cancellation of their A350 order which allowed Delta to take up their A350 delivery slots. Fast forward to today, Delta still needs the A350-900 to finish off the 747s. But doesn't need so many of them due to continued pressures of over capacity, longhaul LCCs, the strengthening US dollar.
In hindsight, as of this moment it looks like Delta should have taken Boeing's deal of exercising the six options they have on the 77Ls, which would have deeply discounted and featured the same Performance Improvement Package United's 777-300ERs received, and converted the 18 787-8s into 787-9s, with deliveries commencing in 2020. The orders for 787-8s have all but dried up. The 787-9 has additional range and size with the same operating costs of the 787-8s. Its why Delta never seriously considered the 787-8 after the NW merger was complete. Are there a few routes that are ideal for the 787-8 in Delta's network, yes. DTW-NGO automatically comes to mind. SEA-KIX would likely still be in operation with the 787-8. The A330-200 wouldn't be stretched to the limit on SEA-HKG. You can scrutinise Delta all you want for picking the A350-900 as the 747 replacement but at the time it made complete sense as they planned on receiving 15 in 2017-2018, the same number they will likely end up receiving in total, albeit for now.