Originally Posted by
readywhenyouare
The Airbus is a very cheap plane to acquire. I'm not sure what more there is to say about that. Airbus gave Eastern Airlines A300's to try out for free and then gave them cheap leases. Delta bought the A350 because they said the 787 was too expensive. This is nothing new. Airbus was directly subsidized from the beginning and cheap prices is how they were able to penetrate the market. Boeing won one ULCC order, Ryanair. Airbus dominates the ULCC segment.
Delta is paying more per tail for 321s than 739s. Only slightly but still.
and no. Delta bought the A350 because all Boeing could offer was 787 delivery slots that started in 2019 and offered 77Ls since they didn't have any early slots. Price was about the same, but the A350 came faster (allowing for a faster 744 phase out) as well as a more lucrative MRO deal on the engines.