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Delta To Order 100 Boeing 737-900

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Delta Air Lines will announce an order for 100 Boeing 737-900s tomorrow, according to several sources. Delta has been examining two potential procurements, one to replace 757s, and another to replace DC-9s. This announcement is the first of the two competitions to be decided. Boeing won the competition on two factors — price and the availability of early delivery positions. (airinsight.com) More...

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eagle763
John Hale 0
ok so will they be -900's or -900er's?
FedExCargoPilot
737-900s cannot replace 757-200 range and 757-300 capacity.
murman55
No, but they can come close and at a much less cost per seat mile.
Aaaand a much newer aircraft technology speaking.
chris13
Chris Bryant 0
Personally, I'll be happy to see those dilapidated DC9/MD80/MD90 birds out of there. Whoever it was at McDonnel-Douglass that decided a 2-3 seating arrangement was a good idea was off his rocker. And I'll shed no tears over the departure of the 757 either. Very uncomfortable aircraft on a long x-country.
Cras
Scott Kalin 0
Boeing doesnt make 900s anymore, only 900ERs.
mpradel
Marcus Pradel 0
more jobs in SC.
DVA7475
DVA7475 0
If anything it may replace solely the older DC-9's, the slightly newer MD-80/90's will be around for a while longer, so will the 757's.
s2v8377
s2v8377 0
I'm glad the 2nd largest US airline has more sense than the 3rd largest. I'm glad to see the Delta's order going to Boeing. Regardless if Delta orders B737-932's or B737-932ER's they will be a positive step forward for the airline. I gather the DC-95's and MD80/MD90's will be the first to go. I'm guessing Delta will also start replace their older B757-232's as well as the NWA variants. However I am guessing they will hold onto the B757-2Q8's with the ETOPS rating in addition to the 4,000NM plus range.
indy2001
indy2001 0
Just to show that you can't please everyone, my wife and I used to search out flights that used MD-80s just because of the 2-3 seating. Whenever possible, we avoided 737s and 757s for the same reason. (Now that we can afford to upgrade, it's a moot point.) For long-distance routes, there are many newer wide-bodies that use 2-3-2 (B767) or 2-4-2 (A340), so it's not limited to the MD-80. As to the rationale behind the original McD decision, keep in mind that the original cabin design dates back to before airline deregulation. Fares were higher, so airlines could afford to pay more attention to customer comfort and not worry about packing us in like sardines.
hardworker7
hardworker7 0
Seems this was a knee jerk decision to AAs recent announcements. Without the -900s, this was already a gypsy airline with its hodge podge of aircraft. Like the news release stated, they "purchased" a position on Boeing's assembly line vs making a long-term aircraft solution. They should've slotted the 787 between their A319,320,738 and A330s/777s and lose the 767s,DC-MD whatevers along w/the older original 757s from DAL/NWA and never touched the 739.
QuickBurn
QuickBurn 0
Might also be replacing those NW A320's...they're getting pretty old now.
preacher1
preacher1 0
@hardworker7-not real sure what your definition of a gypsy airline is, but Anderson has his hands full trying to bring such a ragtag bunch of equipment together and some semblance of standardization to the fleet and it will not be done Overnite. You gotta start somewhere and personally it wasn't all that diverse until the NWA merger. I think you have to look at all that mess first. I think it is a testament to him to stay with Boeing.
BoeingFan59
Troy Raiteri 0
This is great for Delta. I would love to see them have the -900s.
mduell
Mark Duell 0
Chris: They've deferred the DC9 replacement with E195 or Cseries due to a lack of capital.
preacher1
preacher1 0
It might also be noted that DAL was all Boeing/MD prior to the NWA merger, with the largest fleet of 757's/767's of any carrier and it appears that they will be staying with Boeing by this deal. @Quickburn: it appears that the A-320's are going, according to the release. Strange that AB didn't seem to make as hard a run at them as they did on the AA deal. That kinda indicates to me that they were kinda given the cold shoulder to commence with.
preacher1
preacher1 0
@Mark Duell - where did you hear that at? Just Curious.
olseric
olseric 0
As for comfort, depends upon whose 75 you get...the NW (-251) ones always feel like they have an extra inch on the DL (-232)...sounds stupid, but it was a noticeable difference.

As for the Busses, I doubt they're going anywhere...at this point, they have too many captains typed in it to make the investment to train them to 73's...and they are still economical compared to the MD fleet.
jjcoolj
Jack Johnson 0
@FedExCargoPilot- i currently am now promoted to captain and for my experience, I would more than likely prefer the 737 over the 757, the 757's are old, small inside, crappy and i do not like them forsake. And in my opinion... this was a very good decision by Delta. Finally they will get rid of those 57's. Was not right by boeing to make those. The 737's have been around for a very long time compared to the 757. Delta needs to be like southwest. How they only have one aircraft. Delta only should have nowadays the:777, 737, & 787, that would have been great. If or when delta gets rid of the 67's and gets the 787's to replace them.
FedExCargoPilot
Well maybe Delta will sell me a 757:). 737s are very good aircraft, a little noisy being in the back of a 737 but overall very nice plane to fly as a passenger, but very impressive new flight deck. But wouldn't they wait a few years for the re engined 737 as some others commented on?
PassinThru
karle ham 0
Don't know what they're thinking so can't really comment on why. I won't fly Delta as long as there is another airline. Always got crappy service. I worked on a lot of their MD 80 when they were new. Why can't anyone in the US come up with service like Singapore or Thai?
KauaiGolfer
KauaiGolfer 0
One thing to think about in the whole 737-900 vs 757 argument: which airplane would you rather be in, if you had an engine failure at liftoff at max gross weight? The 757 all day long! And JJ, are you actually saying the 757 cockpit is small inside compared to the 737? Really? The 757 is very efficient, powerful, has very good range, and in Delta's case, paid for. As far as cabin comfort goes, an airline can make it as comfortable or as cramped as they choose. JJ, how much time do you have in either one?
mduell
Mark Duell 0
Wayne: http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/2011/08/delta-said-to-order-100-737-90.html

Further, industry sources confirm that a selection of a smaller narrowbody that pitted the CSeries against the Embraer E-195 has been delayed, as the airline does not see the same level of urgency to replace its 757s starting in 2013.
JD345
JD345 0
The 739 can probably replace the 757 on domestic routes, but those ~3500nm flights that couldn't support a widebody are eventually going to need SOMETHING to fly on.
preacher1
preacher1 0
Buch of good arguments but it's good, after the past few weeks, see the argument, excuse me, discussion, about the Boeing models.lol
As far as the 757, I flew corporate my whole career, and went from 707 to a 757, and retired. After I retired, company just bought, a month or 2 back, a new 767-200ER and I have been fortunate enough to check out and make a round or 2. Now, they carry a dual type but a couple hours in the cockpit didn't hurt a thing. Now, the 757 I flew was brand new and was the difference between daylight & dark over the 707, BUT, after flying that 767 here while back, it was amazing the leap that was taken. All have their faults but they are still better than the Bus
mattheweagle
matt leo 0
good that there getting more planes but noing delta i think they'll keep the dc9 for at least five more years
preacher1
preacher1 0
I personally think, just based on what I have heard over the last few months, that more and more of the short haul and intermediate domestic market will be taken over by ASA & Pinnacle, and if so, will take awy the 9's anyway. Pinnacle has already got ComAir and Mesaba. I was hearing awhile back that ComAir was headed downhill anyway and ASA was on the rise. Back during the hard times, there was a push for all the regionals to pull in furloughed DAL pilots where they could and ComAir snubbed their nose at them, so they were already on a downhill slide when DAL sold them. ASA at that time was expanding and I was told all their 50pax RJ's were going away then and being replaced with the 90pax. If all that is done that will effectively kill the 9's anyway.I look for them to settle in with Pinnacle and ASA for all their regional stuff and work their way into a truly long haul carrier.
Britishboyy
Tyler Tashji 0
Continental flies 739's from EWR-LAX, 757's can do that. its sad that the 757's are going to be gone in about 5 years :( they are one of the greatest planes in the world!
slgordon3
slgordon3 0
So, if i'm not mistaken, Delta, American, Continental, and US Airways fly the 757 to Europe from US gateways. As others have pointed out, these will have to be replaced eventually. I also wonder what the replacement options would be at this point.
preacher1
preacher1 0
Agreed on the 757 being a great plane and they were more or less designed as a longhaul replacement for the 707/727, being one of the first with the 2 engine, 2 man cockpit, but at MTOW, a 707 could get off in 8300', the 757 takes 9550', but the jump into the 767 is 5600' feet. Now, with everybody looking at fuel these days, hardly anything goes off at MTOW but that makes a lot of difference on a hot summer day somewhere. Most of that was in the engines as new technology came along but there are a lot of us that didn't want to see the 707 or the 727 go either.
Cras
Scott Kalin 0
Maybe the new re-engined 737-8s and 737-9s, Boeing will be able to get some more range out of them to make the transition from 757s to 739s a bit easier.

But you gotta do it, its been what, almost a decade now since Boeing stopped making 757s?
preacher1
preacher1 0
@Scott Kalin: Production stopped in 04 with final delivery in 4/05 on the 757. As far as range, I'm not sure that exact range is known on the 900 yet but I figure it will be increased and per an earlier comment from slgordon3, anything from a 767 up would handle the range. If PAX levels aren't there to support one, look for some routes to be dropped. They are doing some of those with 767's right now. Last time I flew commercial to NC, flight I was on left KATL, stopped at RDU and jumped off from there to South Africa, I think. That was a 767.
FedExCargoPilot
I have one more point to make, looking at Deltas route map I see where they have their 757s flying to. It looks like south america is mostly covered by 767s however they do fly 757s to the UK, Scandinavia and parts of western europe form new england and new york. I checked the range of the 757s: 753 3,395nm 752 3,900 nm and 739 3,265 nm. Looking at the distance across the Atlantic, the 739 could make it on a east heading but will have problems reaching Scandinavia but will DEFINITELY not make it back going west w/head winds(especially in the winter). Knowing the 757s carry more pax, what a/c could they assign on the Boston/Jfk to parts of western europe that do not have a demand for a 767 or an a330?
preacher1
preacher1 0
As per my earlier comment here, I think Anderson has his hands full with what he inherited, but I think as the 757's go away, the 767/777 will be taking over and if a route will not support a max pax load, it would not surprise me to either see them cut flights or routes if they can't make money on it. When he took over, one of his initial things was capacity, that he couldn't see flying empty planes. Flights and domestic routes were cut and the the NWA merger has came along before he got to the international side of things, BUT, everything that he has done since he arrived has been well thought out and deliberate and though he may not be showing all his cards, I expect he has got this thing pretty well figured out.
agg1930
agg1930 0
Good for Delta!!! It is showing AA what an "american" airline should be!!!
slgordon3
slgordon3 0
@FedExCargoPilot - Delta also uses the 757 on the Philly- and Pittsburgh-Paris routes. I think with winglets the planes can get a couple hundred more nm of range (according to wikipedia--not completely reliable-- the 757-200WL has a max range of 4100 nm). But it seems like DL could just sorta take or leave these routes (i think one or both is now seasonal anyway) and as Wayne says, when the 757 is retired the routes would conceivably just get cut. Which is unfortunate, PHL is my home airport and it always hurts when competition goes away on a route.
KauaiGolfer
KauaiGolfer 0
Wayne, per Boeing, the 707-320B requires 10,840 ft at MTOW, not 8300. I had to look it up, it just didn't sound right. The seven-oh is a ground loving machine when it's heavy. I still liked the DC-8-62 more.
preacher1
preacher1 0
Well, I didn't have the book in front of me and did like you, I looked it up on Wikipedia; I guess I got in a hurry because it didn't sound right to me either, but either they have it wrong or I looked at the wrong column, and as I get older, that is more of a possibility.lol I didn't fly one but a little over 5 years and you are correct in that is was a ground lover. Then the company bought that 757 and I spent the most of my time on it. I actually tried to get them to go with a 727 but they have a mini conference room set up in the rear and they were afraid noise would be a factor with all the rear engines. May just be me but I really don't think they bettered themselves by going with the 757 other than new technology.
smallsop
Sue Allsop 0
About TIME!
zippyted
so are these the ones that I heard on the news the other night that are being built in China?
boughbw
boughbw 0
My wife and I to fly to Brazil regularly. We always fly Delta and usually get the 757 to North or Central Brazil (Brasilia, Manaus, Fortaleza, Recife). Southern Brazil (Rio, Sao Paulo) is the 767. Back in December/January) my wife got the 737 to/from Atlanta and Manaus. I did not realize the range of the aircraft. Our trip in April/May had the 757 through Brasilia, but it did not have winglets.
That last trip we could have taken TAM Airlines from Boston through Sao Paulo to our destination. But, though it would have saved us $300+ per ticket, we stuck with Delta and the 757 as TAM was serving the route with the A330. A330? No thanks - I'm not riding in that death trap.

I'm extremely pleased with Delta's choice of the 737-900. But I am intrigued as I thought Delta was trying to swing a deal with Southwest/AirTran to swap 737s for 717s (MD-95s).

Odds & Ends:
I like the MD-88s and their 2-3 configuration. I have status enough with Delta to regularly book the exit rows on the 2 side and have plenty of room when I'm not upgraded to first. I prefer the ride on the MD-88 as well. Too bad they're aging gas hogs...

-and-
If you ever get a chance to fly through Sao Paulo Garulhos, pass. If you can imagine a less advanced version of the Salt Lake City E Terminal serving a city of 25 million people, you have a good image GRU.
usaerin
@ Wayne Bookout --

Just curious...are you a former USAF pilot?
preacher1
preacher1 0
No; Flight medic, rescue chopper and all that at Tucson. How I learned to fly and got all my tickets is a whole 'nuther story.lol I got out in early 72, flew around a little, and settled into a cushy corporate job. Semi retired from there in 05 and got real smart; got into long haul trucking.lol Old employer and a few friend at DAL and Eagle help me keep current, not to mention a friend or 2 at the FAA that keep the waivers coming on the physical.
DL1011
MIKE KOWALSKI 0
The article from Delta states that the aircraft is a -900Er, 180 pax, 3200 mile range.
Lee1209
JOhn LEe 0
In a related story what about GE partnering with China to build aircraft in China in direct competition with Boeing. Isn't GE the chief advisor to Obama about jobs?
usaerin
@ W. Bookout --

I've had the sense for some time that you have 'seen the elephant,' and sure enough, sounds like you in fact have.

Keep your airspeed up.
preacher1
preacher1 0
@Kenneth Kavanagh. LOL, I will
blink999
DC-9's must go, they were old in 1988 and have not gotten any younger. 757's are just cool, Delta doesn't have the great configuration NWA had but that's Delta. Really like Delta going with Boeing, leg room would be nice.
preacher1
preacher1 0
757 is a nice plane, 767=200ER is nicer.lol(but I'm predjudice now)I guess just cuz it's new.lol You will have to talk to DAL about legromm though.

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