Delta drops hints, plans premium layout for new Boeing 787 Dreamliners
Delta Air Lines plans to pack its new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners full of premium seats, and those jets will likely be a fixture on the carrier's future flights to Europe, executives said Friday.
Back in January, the Atlanta-based carrier placed a blockbuster order for 30 of Boeing's largest 787 planes. It was a big shift for Delta, which had leaned heavily into Airbus for its aircraft needs in recent years.
But despite touting the new Dreamliners as the "next step" in the carrier's "international evolution," Delta offered few details at the time about what travelers could expect out of the new jets, which, to be fair, aren't expected to start joining its fleet until 2031.
The airline offered a few breadcrumbs of information on Friday.
Transatlantic workhorse of the future
For one, expect to see the 787 feature heavily on transatlantic routes, chief commercial officer Joe Esposito suggested on the company's earnings call.
That's not a huge surprise, considering Delta sees the Dreamliners, in part, as a replacement for its aging Boeing 767s — which are currently workhorses for its routes between the U.S. and Europe.
Plus, Delta has another jet in mind for its even longer routes: the long-range Airbus A350-1000 that's set to debut next year with the carrier's next-generation Delta One business-class product up front.
Premium-heavy configuration
Speaking of high-end seats, it's clear that's part of the plan for these new Dreamliners, too.
Esposito noted that at least half of the seats on the new 787-10s will be premium seats. That'll be a clear shift from many of its existing transatlantic jets.
"You're going from 30% premium seating on a [767] to over 50% on a 787," he told analysts. "You think about a 787 that replaces a 767, that's a significant amount of efficiency and [profit] margin."
Whether these Dreamliners ultimately get the spiffy new Delta One product is "TBD," airline leaders told TPG in April, while confirming those new seats are "an option" for the new planes.
"We still have a little bit of time to make those decisions," Mauricio Parise, Delta's vice president of brand experience, said. (After all, the planes aren't due for delivery for another five years or so.)
Delta's premium push
Either way, Delta's heavy focus on upper-tier seats for these new Dreamliners is right in line with the airline's premium-heavy strategy in recent years.
In fact, the carrier said on Friday it doesn't expect to increase the number of coach seats it offers this year or next.
Instead, it's dedicating more and more of its cabin space to the high-end seats that have proved a boon for its bottom line, including with its new Airbus A321neos that have a whopping 11 rows (44 seats) of domestic first-class.
Only 50% of the seats on Delta's soon-to-be-delivered A350-1000s will be standard economy seats.
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Top rival United Airlines has taken a similar approach with its recently launched Boeing 787-9 "Elevated" Dreamliners which have 99 premium seats between Polaris business-class and premium economy.
Whether the industry's premium push can maintain its momentum remains to be seen, but it appears Delta's Dreamliners will keep the trend front and center into the 2030s and beyond.
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