Delta places its first big order with the American company in more than ten years, purchasing 100 Boeing Max aircraft

For the first time in more than a decade, Delta Air Lines is purchasing 100 Boeing 737 Max 10 aircraft from the American manufacturer.

The agreement includes options for 30 more aircraft. In 2025, deliveries are expected to start.

Since Airbus recently closed high-profile sales, including to several state-owned airlines in China, the new order is good news for Boeing. When the order was made, Boeing bemoaned trade disputes.

Delta announced Monday that the order will update its fleet of narrow-body aircraft as the carrier looks to take advantage of an uptick in travel after the Covid pandemic’s record-breaking drop. According to the report, the Max aircraft will be 20–30% more fuel-efficient than the jetliners they will replace.

One of the big four U.S. airlines, Delta, which is based in Atlanta, is the only one to have chosen Airbus over Boeing recently as it expanded both its fleet of narrow-body and longer-range wide-body aircraft. During the epidemic, Delta scrapped its older Boeing 777 aircraft and has started receiving new Airbus A350 twin-aisle aircraft.

After the second of two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that resulted in 346 fatalities combined, the 737 Max was grounded for at least 18 months. In November 2020, the U.S. lifted the grounding. Because supplies of new Maxes were halted during that time, Delta’s competitors faced capacity issues.

The Max 10 model, the largest in the Max family of narrow-body vehicles, is still under regulatory review. Before the year is through, Boeing wants to get the planes approved. New aeroplanes will need to be equipped with a cockpit alert system, per a regulation that was approved in the wake of the two crashes.

Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta, has previously made a hint about a Max jet deal. “We’ve been trying to get a deal done with Boeing on that … hopefully we’ll be able to figure that out,” Bastian said in response to a question about a potential order of the narrow-body aircraft at a recent investor conference.

182 seats total, including 129 in regular economy, 33 in Comfort+ with extra legroom, and 20 in first class, will be on board the flight operated by Delta.

In premarket trade, Delta shares increased by more than 2% while Boeing shares increased by 4%.

Recent years have seen a large increase in Airbus orders from Europe for Delta.

In 2017, Delta was caught up in a trade dispute between Boeing and Bombardier, a Canadian manufacturer of the C-Series narrow-body aircraft that Delta had ordered. Bombardier denies Boeing’s accusations that it was selling the aircraft for less than market value. Later, Airbus took over the project and changed the planes’ name to A220.