NEW YORK (AP) -- Delta Air Lines said Monday that it will go ahead with orders for 18 of Boeing's new 787-8 aircraft, but will delay the first deliveries of those planes until 2020.
The airline said in an SEC filing that it worked out an agreement with Boeing to defer delivery of all 18 planes until 2022. Northwest Airlines originally ordered the planes and Delta took on those orders when it bought Northwest in 2008. Questions arose about whether Delta would follow through with the order as Boeing experienced numerous delays in getting the plane into test flights and production. Northwest was scheduled to take delivery of the 787s between 2008 and 2010.
Boeing said when it reported earnings Wednesday that it plans to start delivering 787s in the first quarter of 2011, two years late. All Nippon Airways is scheduled to get the first planes. Boeing has orders for more than 800 of the aircraft from over 55 customers. The company first began selling the plane in 2003.
The 787-8 version of the aircraft will carry up to 250 passengers on routes of up to 8,200 nautical miles and could easily make a nonstop flight from New York to Tokyo.
The airline said in an SEC filing that it worked out an agreement with Boeing to defer delivery of all 18 planes until 2022. Northwest Airlines originally ordered the planes and Delta took on those orders when it bought Northwest in 2008. Questions arose about whether Delta would follow through with the order as Boeing experienced numerous delays in getting the plane into test flights and production. Northwest was scheduled to take delivery of the 787s between 2008 and 2010.
Boeing said when it reported earnings Wednesday that it plans to start delivering 787s in the first quarter of 2011, two years late. All Nippon Airways is scheduled to get the first planes. Boeing has orders for more than 800 of the aircraft from over 55 customers. The company first began selling the plane in 2003.
The 787-8 version of the aircraft will carry up to 250 passengers on routes of up to 8,200 nautical miles and could easily make a nonstop flight from New York to Tokyo.
