Delta ordered 30 Boeing 787-10s, with options for 30 more, in its first direct Dreamliner deal. Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2031, after new Airbus wide-bodies begin arriving.
Delta Air Lines’ first direct order for Boeing 787 Dreamliners covers 30 787-10s, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2031, about five years after the Atlanta-based carrier announced the purchase in January.
The agreement, which Boeing announced Jan. 13, also gives Delta options on up to 30 more jets of the largest Dreamliner variant. Neither company disclosed financial terms.
Nine months later, the timetable stands. Delta’s quarterly report for the period ended Sept. 30, filed Oct. 9, still lists 30 firm 787-10 purchases, 30 options and a 2031 delivery start.
Why the 2031 date matters
The long lead time means Airbus jets will join Delta’s wide-body fleet well before any Dreamliner does. In a Jan. 27 announcement, Delta said it expected its first A350-1000s from early 2027, with a new batch of A330-900s and A350-900s starting to arrive in 2029.
The five-year figure measures the gap between the 2026 announcement and the scheduled 2031 start of deliveries. Delta’s filings give no first-delivery month, and no filing or announcement reviewed indicates the order slipped from an earlier date.
As of Oct. 20, neither Delta nor Boeing had explained in filings or company announcements why the first jets are slotted for 2031 rather than sooner. Public filings and announcements do not quantify any capacity shortfall Delta may face before then, or spell out how each new aircraft maps to a retirement.
What Delta bought
Delta signed the purchase agreement Jan. 12 and disclosed it the next day, according to the airline’s Form 8-K. In that filing, Delta said it had secured long-term financing for a substantial portion of each aircraft’s purchase price.
The price itself remains private. The purchase agreement Delta later filed with regulators redacts both price and delivery-table entries. That contract also provides for maintenance, flight attendant and pilot training to support the jet’s introduction.
Delta framed the deal as a way to diversify its wide-body suppliers while staying within previously announced spending and capacity targets.
“Today’s 787 order adds diversity to our widebody order book, while creating cost-efficient scale across all widebody fleets,” Dan Janki, then Delta’s chief financial officer, said in the airline’s order announcement.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian tied the choice to efficiency on flights across the Atlantic and to South America, as well as to supplier diversification, Reuters reported on the day of the announcement.
Delta says the 787-10 will deliver 25% better fuel efficiency per seat than the previous-generation wide-bodies it replaces. The airline did not identify the comparison aircraft, cabin layout or mission behind that estimate, and the figure is Delta’s own projection rather than an independent measurement.
Boeing cast the purchase as support for Delta’s international growth and fleet modernization.
“We are excited that Delta Air Lines has selected the 787-10 to join its fleet of the future,” said Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
GE engines and a new cabin
Delta picked GE Aerospace’s GEnx engines for the jets. GE Aerospace said the agreement includes spare engines and long-term service support, and it described a relationship with Delta dating to 1956.
“The GEnx engine will provide reliability, efficiency, and durability for years to come,” said H. Lawrence Culp Jr., GE Aerospace chairman and CEO.
Public materials reviewed through Oct. 20 do not put a figure on the added training, spare-parts and maintenance costs of bringing a new aircraft and engine combination into the fleet.
Inside, Delta plans larger premium cabins with Delta One Suites, Delta Premium Select and Delta Comfort alongside Main Cabin. Its 787-10 media kit, dated Aug. 3, lists no total seat count.
Boeing’s 787 product page lists the 787-10 at 224 feet, 1 inch long, with seating for 300 to 375 passengers in two classes and a range of up to 7,500 nautical miles (13,890 kilometers). Those are manufacturer reference figures, not Delta’s cabin plan or a guaranteed route range.
The fleet in the meantime
The Dreamliners will join a fleet that still leans on aging Boeing 767s. As of Sept. 30, Delta operated 37 767-300ERs with an average age of 29.7 years and 21 767-400ERs averaging 25.7 years, according to its quarterly filing.
In January 2024, ch-aviation reported that Glen Hauenstein, then Delta’s president, planned to pull 767-300ERs from international long-haul flying by 2028 and retire them by 2030, while keeping 767-400ERs flying beyond that date. Delta’s filings and announcements through Oct. 20 do not reaffirm that timetable or say which 767s the 787-10s will replace.
Delta’s outstanding wide-body commitments totaled 83 aircraft at the end of September: 16 A330-900s, 17 A350-900s, 20 A350-1000s and the 30 787-10s.
The January Airbus order covered 16 A330-900s and 15 A350-900s, combining new purchases with 10 exercised options, and added options on 20 more wide-bodies. Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines will power the A330-900s, and Trent XWB-84 EP engines will power the A350-900s, both under long-term maintenance agreements.
New aircraft keep arriving in the meantime. Delta took delivery of 13 jets in the September quarter, including A350-900s, A321neos and A220-300s, the airline said in its third-quarter results.
A return to the Dreamliner
The order brings Delta back to a jet it once gave up. In December 2016, Delta agreed with Boeing to cancel an 18-aircraft 787 order it inherited in its 2008 merger with Northwest Airlines, Aviation Week reported.
At the time of the January announcement, Boeing put Delta’s firm order book with the planemaker at 130 aircraft, including 100 737-10s.
Delta also expanded its narrow-body plans in February, exercising options on 34 Airbus A321neos with deliveries beginning in 2029. The airline said then that it had 92 A321neos in service, 97 more on firm order and 36 remaining options, for an eventual fleet of 189 if all firm orders are delivered, according to its Feb. 27 announcement.
Key Takeaways
- Delta’s first direct Dreamliner order covers 30 firm Boeing 787-10s, plus options for 30 more; financial terms were not disclosed.
- Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2031, about five years after the January 2026 announcement. As of Oct. 20, no first-delivery month or public explanation for the timing had been given.
- Airbus wide-bodies arrive first, with A350-1000s expected from early 2027 and new A330-900s and A350-900s from 2029.
- GE Aerospace GEnx engines will power the jets.
- Delta had 58 767s in its fleet as of Sept. 30, and it has not said which ones the 787-10s will replace.