Delta Air Lines Bets Big On Boeing’s 737 Max 10, 787-10 Jets

Delta CEO Ed Bastian says the airline will fly Boeing’s 737 Max 10 starting in 2027 and 787-10 Dreamliners from 2031, swapping aging jets for bigger, more efficient ones.

Delta Air Lines said Friday it will pair Boeing’s 737 Max 10, due in 2027, with the 787-10 Dreamliner from 2031 to replace older jets in a decade-long efficiency push.

The plans emerged during Delta’s June-quarter earnings call, the latest step in a fleet upgauging program that has helped the Atlanta-based carrier become the U.S. airline industry’s margin leader. Delta reported adjusted operating revenue of $17.7 billion for the quarter, up 13.9% from a year earlier, and an adjusted pre-tax profit of $1.4 billion. The airline affirmed full-year adjusted earnings guidance of $6.50 to $7.50 per share and free cash flow of $3 billion to $4 billion.

“Today, we reported our June quarter results, and it is clear that Delta’s brand and industry position are stronger than ever,” Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said on the earnings call. “We delivered $1.4 billion in pre-tax profit while absorbing the highest quarterly fuel expense in our history, reflecting broad demand strength, growing brand preference and momentum across our diversified revenue base.”

Chief Commercial Officer Joe Esposito described the strategy behind the new jets in blunt terms. “Larger airplanes make us more efficient and give us that extra capacity,” Esposito said on the call.

Delta expects its first 737 Max 10 to arrive in 2027, with up to 27 of the jets joining the fleet that year. Bastian said on the call that the carrier expects “to see that in Delta colors next year,” referring to the jet’s Delta livery. Once deliveries begin, the jets will replace Delta’s aging Boeing 717s and 757s.

The order dates to July 2022, when Delta placed a Farnborough Air Show deal for 100 firm 737 Max 10s and 30 options. Deliveries were originally planned to start in 2025 but slipped after the aircraft ran into Federal Aviation Administration certification delays tied to an engine anti-icing issue on its CFM International LEAP-1B engines. Canada’s WestJet Airlines is expected to become the first carrier to fly the Max 10, ahead of Delta. WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said last month that the airline anticipates putting its first Max 10 into service in the first quarter of 2027, pending FAA and Transport Canada approval. “We are hearing a lot of confidence both from Boeing and from the FAA that the certification is progressing,” von Hoensbroech said at an airline conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines also hold Max 10 orders.

Regulators say certification is nearing completion. “We haven’t seen anything today that would indicate that Boeing would not be able to meet certification before the end of the year,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in an April 21 interview with Bloomberg. Bedford said in May that he expects the smaller Max 7 to be certified this summer and the Max 10 to follow before year’s end. The Max 10, the largest variant of the 737 Max family, seats roughly 190 passengers in Delta’s configuration, though Boeing’s published two-class layout ranges from 188 to 230 seats depending on configuration.

Delta’s 787-10 timeline stretches further out. The first of 30 firm Dreamliners is not due until 2031, following a Jan. 13, 2026, order that marked Delta’s first-ever direct purchase of a Boeing 787 variant. The deal includes options for 30 more jets and calls for GE Aerospace GEnx engines. Delta has configured its 787-10s with 301 seats, including 85 premium seats, and plans to fly the wide-body jet on high-demand transatlantic and South American routes, replacing 767-300ER and 767-400ER aircraft.

Esposito laid out the economics of that swap on the earnings call. “When you think about the 787 that replaces a 767, that’s a significant amount of efficiency and margin premium,” he said. “You’re going from 30% premium seating in a 767 to over 50% in a 787, and it can handle twice the cargo. The continent of Europe falls into the bucket of domestic efficiency but on the widebody side.” Boeing said in its January 2026 order announcement that the 787-10 purchase “will enable the airline’s expansion and modernization plans on high-demand transatlantic and South American routes.”

Delta’s 767-300ERs are targeted for full retirement by 2030, with removal from international long-haul routes by 2028. The 767-400ERs, which seat 238 passengers with 54 in premium cabins, are expected to keep flying into the 2030s until 787-10 deliveries allow their replacement.

The dual-aircraft push extends a fleet renewal program that dates to the mid-2010s, when Delta began replacing 50-seat regional jets with Boeing 717s acquired through an arrangement with Boeing and Southwest Airlines. The airline later retired its McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and MD-90 jets in favor of Airbus A321s and A321neos. Delta still operates more than 70 Boeing 717s, though that fleet is being phased out gradually. Other major U.S. carriers, including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue Airways and United Airlines, have followed with similar moves toward larger narrow-body jets over the past decade.

Delta carried more than 200 million customers in 2025 and operates hubs and key markets spanning Amsterdam, Atlanta, Bogota, Boston, Detroit, Lima, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Seoul-Incheon and Tokyo. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam alliance and has been ranked North America’s top on-time airline for five consecutive years, according to aviation data firm Cirium.