6 big changes: Delta talks retrofits, new aircraft and maybe another hub

While Delta Air Lines continues to build award-winning business-class-only lounges, the airline's most exclusive onboard experience still leaves a lot to be desired on the majority of its twin-aisle jets.

For instance, if you're departing in Delta One on a long-haul flight from Seattle, odds are you'll end up enjoying a fully enclosed suite with a sliding door. That's because Delta is currently deploying its newest international planes, like the Airbus A330-900neo and the Airbus A350, from Seattle right now.

But if you're flying from one of the airline's other hubs, like Atlanta or New York, the odds increase that you'll be seated in a far inferior product on the Boeing 767-300 or older Airbus A330.

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In fact, while Delta One is the name of the airline's long-haul business experience, your onboard experience will vary greatly depending on the plane you end up flying on.

But in news that will likely be welcomed by Delta loyalists, big upgrades are on the way for Delta One flyers. Better yet, the airline has a slew of updates across its network and fleet planned that should excite any Delta SkyMiles frequent flyer.

Here's everything you need to know from my interview with Paul Baldoni, Delta's newly appointed senior vice president of network planning.

Delta One Suites coming to the A330

Perhaps the most exciting update that Baldoni shared is that the legacy Airbus A330-200 and Airbus A330-300 fleet will soon be retrofitted with Delta One Suites.

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Baldoni didn't offer more details, aside from confirming that these jets will be outfitted "over the next few years."

The -200 and -300 variants of the A330 currently feature reverse herringbone business-class pods with direct aisle access for each passenger. While this product was top-notch back when it was introduced, it has since lost its edge with far more modern, spacious and private suites now on the market.

Delta won't be retrofitting the Boeing 767-400 fleet, Baldoni explained, since those planes already sport a modified version of the Delta One Suite without the sliding door.

The only wide-body aircraft that isn't going to get a full refresh is the Boeing 767-300. The airline recently did a light refresh to the Delta One product on those planes — adding newer screens and refreshing seatback covers — but the 767-300 will be the only jet that won't receive Delta One Suites, according to Baldoni.

That's because the 767-300 is on its way to retirement.

"We're retiring a number of those aircraft each year, and at this point the number of routes that they're on will continue to become smaller and smaller," he said.

Delta will replace these retired planes with new Airbus A330-900neos and Airbus A350s in the coming years. All of these planes will be delivered factory fresh with Delta One Suites.

Airbus A350 retrofits

Along with the Airbus A330 retrofits, Delta is in the process of harmonizing the configuration of its Airbus A350s.

Right now, there are three types of layouts of passenger accommodations for the A350.

The most outdated one is the configuration that Delta inherited from LATAM when it purchased used Airbus A350s from the South American juggernaut.

Those planes feature a 2-2-2 layout in business class, and they don't even offer any Premium Select cabins. This is known internally as the "35L" layout.

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The second-most dated LOPA features 32 Delta One Suites, Delta's original "359" configuration for its flagship long-haul jet. (This plane did receive a minor retrofit in recent years with the addition of Comfort+.)

Finally, there's the new premium-heavy configuration, dubbed the "35H," that expands the Delta One Suites cabin to 40 pods, but it comes at the expense of eight Premium Select recliners and 31 standard economy seats.

With such a mishmash of layouts and products, it's great to hear Baldoni say that "we are converting all of our A350s to the 35H configuration."

The airline is starting with the ex-LATAM planes since those are the most outdated. It plans to have those retrofits completed by the end of the year.

It'll then cycle through the remaining A350s by the end of 2027, according to Baldoni.

Premium A321neo deployment

It's an open secret that Delta is planning a subfleet of Airbus A321neos in a premium-heavy configuration.

The airline hadn't confirmed these plans until Baldoni said on Tuesday that "we are looking forward to the A321neos that will come with flat-bed seats."

Turns out, Delta already has some of these A321neos sitting in storage in Victorville, California. Why are brand-new jets sitting in storage? Well, "we are still waiting for seat certification," Baldoni explained.

Though there's no telling when the seats might get certified, Baldoni knows where he's going to deploy these jets.

"We're going to put it places where we have existing domestic Delta One service today," he said.

That includes premium transcontinental routes, such as from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco and from Boston to Los Angeles.

That said, Delta has "around 20" of these jets on order, so there's definitely room for other routes.

While secondary cities in Europe might be a good option for the premium A321neo, Baldoni isn't bullish on transatlantic narrow-body flights.

"As we look towards Europe, we continue to expect to operate those flights on wide-bodies," he explained.

As such, it's anyone's guess where these planes will end up flying.

More domestic Premium Select routes

Speaking of premium transcontinental flying, Delta upgraded all its flights between New York and Los Angeles with premium economy seats last summer.

That has "done very well in the marketplace," and Delta is going to build on that success by expanding the product to all flights between New York and San Francisco.

There's no timeline for when that will happen, aside from it being a near-term priority for the network planning team.

Austin as the next hub?

Pre-coronavirus pandemic, Delta had five focus cities: Austin; Cincinnati; Nashville; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and San Jose, California.

As the carrier emerged from the pandemic, it doubled down on Austin and Raleigh-Durham while unofficially dropping the remaining airports from its focus city strategy.

While Delta continues to expand in Raleigh-Durham, the airline is making some really big investments in Austin.

"We've had great success in Austin. We like the demographic trends we see in Austin. So, that will continue to be the primary focus," Baldoni explained.

As Delta keeps growing in Austin, the transition from a focus city to a hub might happen sooner than you know it.

"We're getting up to now close to 60 departures a day [along with our partners]. When we get to close to around 120 daily departures, you start building some of that connectivity that exists in what you would call a hub, whether we call Austin a hub or not," according to Baldoni.

While "we're not really there yet," Baldoni said that "we want to continue to build Austin primarily for the local customer, but a natural consequence of that will be the connecting traffic."

Consider this one developing.

Seattle gets the best products

Finally, eagle-eyed observers might have noticed in recent weeks that Delta has upgauged all its transpacific service from Seattle to its Airbus A330-900neo and A350 fleet.

Baldoni explained that it's an intentional move that's "not related to competition," seemingly referring to Alaska Airlines and its plan to turn Seattle into an international gateway as part of its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines.

Instead, it comes down to the increased cargo capacity of these jets, along with the higher density of premium seats it can now sell in these markets, according to Baldoni.

In an era when premium products are all the rage, it makes sense for Delta to strategically deploy its best planes to a market where it can use its onboard product as a key differentiator.

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