At a press conference in Minneapolis, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian spoke of its plans to introduce its future fleet of the larger variant of the A350 family on long-haul routes specifically in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent regions according to thrifty traveler reports.
In January 2024, Delta placed a firm order for 20 Airbus A350-1000s to continue renewing and modernizing its wide-body fleet. Currently, the airline owns 33 A350-900s and expects to receive another 11, by the end of this decade it expects to have 60 A350 aircraft.
This year, Delta announced its plans for a partnership with Riyadh Air with the aim of boosting the connectivity of both airlines. This alliance also aims to create new non-stop services between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the only airline operating in this market is Saudia on Boeing 777-300ER, an aircraft similar to the A350-1000.
The A350-900 operates Delta’s longest routes to South Africa and Australia, with the largest variant of the A350 family expected to expand into new markets. The war situation of the Russia-Ukraine war has caused restrictions in the airspace making it economically unviable to fly to India due to cargo restrictions, the CEO of Delta that with the A350-1000 it is possible to resume its operations to India. The American airline hopes to implement some agreement with IndiGo to increase its presence in the Indian market.
Between 2019 and 2020, Delta had flights between New York-JFK and Mumbai operated on Boeing 777-200LRs, these were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and so far there are no plans to resume its services to India, Delta’s CEO commented that with the Airbus A350-1000 it is possible to materialize non-stop connections to Delhi and Mumbai from the United States, the American airline was also in talks to implement a flight between Hyderabad and Atlanta.
