DL is not retiring any 739s within the next 15-20 years. I don’t believe that DL is in bed with Airbus like some on this site think. DL is a business and will make decisions in what is best for the company. In the case of the last couple of aircraft orders DL has made, the A350 and A330neo order, Boeing couldn’t compete with Airbus’ delivery schedule due to backlog on 787 orders and Airbus gave DL a better price. On the A321 orders, the equivalent 737 MAX-9/10 isn’t really the best suited as a 757 replacement and I would much rather fly on an A321 than 737 MAX 9s or 10s. While I believe DL will probably end up ordering A320neos to replace the A320s and 738s, I still think DL will look at the 737 MAX-8. I definitely don’t believe DL is anti-Boeing as DL has shown it is still interested in buying from Boeing. (797s)

I disagree here. Delta services the CFM engines for the 737 fleet in house. Unless Tech Ops says yeah we're done with CFM engine maintenance, which is unlikely considering the A321ceos are all CFM engines, the 737-900ERs will last 30 years, which is how long Delta plans to operate the 737-800 fleet.

Oh yeah and the CS300 should end up replacing the small 737-700 fleet. When Delta decides to retire this small, niche fleet for hot, high, and short fields, well your guess is as good as mine. Apparently Delta has said it has the highest costs of any narrowbody in the fleet so I wonder how Delta could end up offloading these, despite being relatively young.

What almost everyone glossed over in the A321neo order announcement was the GTF maintenance line Tech Ops will open up. This basically translates to all future orders being CSeries and A320neos. What this does not translate to is the shutdown of the CFM engine line. To an earlier point, Delta could have brought the IAE engine line in house, which would have kept the M90 fleet long term, possibly past 2030 for a great majority of the fleet. But they didn't and the GTF engines will have maintenance done instead.

On a somewhat related note, this GTF line could be critical in what the 797 will end up being engined. RR/PW/GE are looking to power the 797. An obvious answer is an uprated version of the GTF. The biggest challenge for the 797 is what will the engines look like since its been decades since a similar engine has been designed. Contrary to some here, Delta will not only order the 797 but order quite a few of them. Delta will surprise people by how many they'll be operating fifteen years from now. (This is my Vegas instinct kicking in here.) I'm sure Delta will be all the more enthusiastic if the GTF powers the 797. In fact, I'm sure Delta's team, whom it should be noted has confirmed that they've been in extensive discussions with Boeing regarding the 797, along with UA and others, will lobby Boeing for a flexible engine selection rather than just one engine choice for the new aircraft. Yes, there will be a need at Delta for the 797. They would have ordered more A330-900neos had they thought it would make sense to retire the 767-300ER fleet now but didn't. The A330-800neo is an orphan aircraft that no one wants, even if given a screaming deal as there is no re-sale value. Lastly, the A321neo LR could replace the 75S of Delta but it can't do it all. Ok, wow I went off topic there.

Thank you for explaining this very well! The poster you were quoting has said many times before that anything DL orders now will be from Airbus and that’s not true. Even after the A350/A330neo order and the A321ceo order, DL originally took its options on the 739 and ordered 40 more (although this was later reduced to 20 after a dispute with the pilot contracts and was then increased to 30.) DL will almost definitely be ordering the 797 and I believe that DL will take a look at the 737 MAX-8 for the next narrowbody order. With all of the MD retirements which DL will replace with aircraft upgaguing similar to how the C-Series is helping retire more 50 seaters. I see DL retiring the A320 soon as more 321s come online and will reposition the 738s on some of the retiring MD-88s/90 routes to help keep a 140-160 seat aircraft in markets that can’t support an upgrade in capacity.

Well I've been right about the last two orders. I'm team Boeing but I know defeat when I see it. It's been game over for Boeing since the A350 and A330neo in 2014. The A330neo has been a dog in terms of sales and worse with cancelations. Delta has kept the order despite the poor future value it will have. That is a sign of a rock solid relationship. It's like a lady saying yes to a proposal made with a plastic ring from the coin-op machine.

Game over for Boeing with DL since 2014? Then tell me why DL ordered 40 more 739s in 2015 over Airbus then?

Those were just options. Delta got the 739 for a very good price in 2011. Some speculate the cheap price came from the 787 deferments. But it wasn't a new order. If there is any evidence to show that DL has any serious interest in Boeing aircraft then I would like to see it. Richard Anderson said he would love to have the 787-10. Well, it's for sale now. Where's the order?

Here's the cite with Anderson saying he wanted the 787-10.

https://apnews.com/b62a86a21db5484d8...-delays-summer

I'm not sure why my prediction is seen as a bad thing. You all constantly complain about having to fly on the Boeing planes.

Well the article you posted is dated from 2015, after your “2014 game over for Boeing with DL” statement. DL is still interested in Boeing and will continue look at them when making orders. Here is an article from just 2 months ago stating that DL is still interested in Boeing aircraft.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...g-mode-446726/