Originally Posted by sailingfun

People directly involved in the process say the 787 was the front runner. Delta needed the range of the 787-900 over the 787-800 or A350. Boeing knew our plans for the Shanghai hub and the range requirements and felt they were in the drivers seat. They did offer to supply 777-300ER's initially until the 787-900's started arriving. We asked that they build us 777-200LR's instead. They refused stating they were going to stop all -200 production on the 777.
In the end the reasons for why we made the choices we made are mute with the failure to achieve a Shanghai hub and that is the direct reason they are rethinking the widebody plan and have shifted focus to Korea.