Delta Appears To Walk Away From Initial 787s
Darren Shannon darren_shannon@aviationweek.com 
Delta Air Lines appears to have renounced its position as the North American launch customer for Boeing's 787-8 widebody, according to the carrier's latest regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Atlanta-based carrier, which inherited a firm order for 18 787-8s when it acquired Northwest Airlines in 2008, has dropped the firm orders from its latest annual report, which was filed late March 2.
Instead, the airline in a footnote noted the 18 aircraft have been excluded from its firm order obligations because "[t]he Boeing Company has informed us that Boeing will be unable to meet the contractual delivery schedule for these aircraft."
Delta, by nature of the Northwest order, was scheduled to take delivery of at least one of the first batch of 787s currently under construction at Boeing's Everett, Wash., facility.
That airframe originally was scheduled to enter service with Northwest at the end of 2008, but continued delays to Boeing's 787 manufacturing process have now pushed first flight for the -8 launch derivative to sometime before this year's Paris Air Show, which occurs mid-June.
Entry into service is now not expected until the first quarter of 2010 at the earliest.
Delta has been expected to revise, if not cancel, its 787 order since AviationWeek's Aviation Daily exclusively reported the carrier was favoring Boeing's 777 over the all-new widebody.
This expectation was heightened in December when the airline's Executive VP for Revenue Planning and Network Management during Delta's investor day conference said the airline's 777s could be the 747-400 replacement Northwest had intended when the Eagan, Minnesota-based carrier first ordered the 787s.
The first batch of 787-8s has also been troubled with weight issues that could limit deployment on the ultra-long-haul routes first intended by Northwest.
Delta, however, is adamant the decision to drop the 787 from its firm order plans is not a cancellation. "We have not cancelled our firm order of 18 787 aircraft," said a spokesman.
Both Delta and Boeing also noted they continue to "discuss the situation."
Delta has retained 18 787-8 option positions that were negotiated under Northwest's initial purchase. These start with six options in 2013, with the remaining 12 assigned to unspecified dates thereafter.
It is unclear what will happen to the first aircraft intended for Delta, although several sources indicated 787-8 launch customer All Nippon Airways is prepared to take the airframes as the Japanese carrier both requires the capacity and would be less restricted by weight issues as it intends to initially deploy the aircraft on domestic routes.
ANA was not available for comment.
Should Delta renounce the first batch of 787s this could make Continental Airlines the first North American operator of the composite aircraft.
777 photo credit: Delta Air Lines
