Delta's First Airbus A330-900neo Lands in Atlanta to Prep for Passenger Service

Delta's first Airbus A330-900neo has touched down at the airline's Atlanta headquarters following its farewell from Toulouse, France. Now, Delta will begin making its final preparations for the jet in advance of passenger service beginning on July 15.

The wide-body jet, of which Delta has 35 on order, is destined to replace aging Boeing 767-300ER aircraft on long-haul international routes. The A330-900neo features all four of Delta's branded cabins — Delta One Suites, Delta Premium Select, Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin (economy).

The A330-900neo will be the first Delta aircraft to feature memory foam cushions throughout the aircraft, and the first Delta wide-body aircraft featuring its new wireless inflight entertainment system in every seat. Gogo's 2Ku satellite-based WiFi will also be installed to keep passengers connected for their jaunt over the ocean.

Ship 3401 crossed the Atlantic Ocean as Flight 9941, covering 4,870 miles in 9 hours and 22 minutes. With a late departure from France, it arrived in Atlanta at 2:09am on Friday (May 24). Of note, the delivery flight was made with "synthetic jet fuel," and Delta has confirmed that it's working with Airbus to "power future delivery flights with similar fuels."

What's next? It'll spend some time in Delta's sprawling TechOps facility — which we toured late last year — before moving into passenger service this summer. Delta has yet to confirm whether this very ship will be used on the A330-900neo's inaugural flight between Seattle and Shanghai, but yours truly will be sure to look when boarding commences on July 15.

This article has been updated to reflect the new A330-900neo (A339) inaugural flight date, which was officially moved from July 1 to July 15, 2019. Only the inaugural flight is impacted; all other A339 routes will proceed as previously announced.

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Delta's statement on the change follows: "Because Delta is taking delivery of new A330-900neo aircraft later than initially expected, Delta will debut the industry-leading widebody aircraft on scheduled Seattle-Shanghai service on July 15 instead of July 1. Delta will work with customers on a case-by-case basis to find alternate flights if needed, but Seattle-Shanghai service will continue with Boeing 767-300ER aircraft."

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