Delta Air Lines has announced that it finalized an agreement with Airbus, firming up 12 options for the Airbus A220-300.
With the freshly firmed up orders, the total Delta Air Lines A220 fleet will grow to 131 aircraft of the type, including the A220-100 and A220-300. According to Airbus Orders & Deliveries data for June 2023, the airline already operates 45 A220-100 and 16 A220-300 aircraft, with no remaining A220-100 orders.
Following the addition of the 12 orders, the airline’s backlog of A220 aircraft will be 70 jets.
“The A220-300 offers efficient performance and flexibility,” said Kristen Bojko, the Vice President of Fleet at Delta Air Lines. Bojko noted that the airline’s growing A220 fleet is “an integral investment in the future of sustainable aviation”.
Delta Air Lines was the launch customer of the Airbus A220 in the United States, having taken delivery of the aircraft in October 2018 shortly after the then-CSeries was rebranded to the A220 when Airbus purchased a majority stake in the program.
Of note, Airbus added an order from an undisclosed customer for 12 A220-300 aircraft on June 30, 2023, according to the manufacturer’s Orders & Deliveries filings. In January 2023, the airline also ordered 12 aircraft of the type but the recently announced order is unrelated.
Recently, Delta Air Lines reported a record-breaking Q2, ending Q2 2023 with a net income of $1.8 billion.
Apart from Delta Air Lines, Qantas was the only other airline to order the A220 family aircraft so far in 2023. The Australian carrier also firmed up its options during the Paris Air Show on June 20, 2023.
In July 2023, Qantas unveiled pictures of its first Airbus A220-300 being assembled at Mirabel, Quebec, Canada, announcing that everyone could suggest names for its A220-300 fleet that would be centered around the topic of ‘native wildlife’.