Delta’s Airbus jet order a blow to Boeing

The Boeing Co. was dealt another major blow this week as Delta Air Lines confirmed Thursday it will order 100 jets from its aerospace rival, a deal valued at around US$12.7 billion.

Delta announced it will order 100 A321neo single-aisle jets, with an option for 100 more, from Francebased Airbus SE. The Atlantabased airline expects deliveries of the aircraft, powered by Pratt & Whitney geared-turbofan engines, to begin in 2020 through 2023.

The order marks a setback for Boeing, as Delta had reportedly been considering its 737 Max 10 aircraft for the substantial deal.

“This is the right transaction at the right time for our customers, employees and our shareholders,” Delta chief executive Ed Bastian said in a statement. Boeing is in the midst of a bitter trade spat with Bombardier Inc. that has put Delta’s order for 75 CSeries aircraft at the heart of the dispute.

Delta has sided with Bombardier, with Bastian previously calling the case “unrealistic” and “nonsensical.”

Boeing has alleged that massive government subsidies have allowed Bombardier to dump the CSeries into the U.S. market at an “absurdly low” cost. The U.S. Department of Commerce hit Bombardier with a 300 per cent preliminary duty on the jet, effectively preventing Delta from adding the plane to its fleet.

Airbus said the A321neo jets will be manufactured at its production facility in Mobile, Alabama, the same location where Bombardier’s U.S.-bound CSeries jets are expected to be produced. In November, Bombardier announced that Airbus would take control of the CSeries program and produce U.S.-bound CSeries jets at its facility in Alabama.

“We at Airbus are very happy we won this hotly-contested campaign, together with our partner Pratt, and we are proud to serve Delta with the A321neo,” Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said in a statement.

Scott Hamilton, an aviation analyst with Leeham Co., said the order for 100 jets is “a generational deal.”

“With 100 order and 100 options, that pretty well takes care of Delta’s single-aisle jet requirements,” Hamilton said.

DAVID GOLDMAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Delta Air Lines has announced it will order 100 A321neo single-aisle jets, with an option for 100 more, from France-based Airbus SE. That’s a setback for Boeing and its 737 Max 10 aircraft, which Delta had been considering for the order.