All you delivery prognosticators had me thinking it's unlikely our pre-owned Lion Air 737-900s would be ready for summer 2022 flying. However, I have it on good authority (top men) that the first iteration of the transitioning 29 aircraft fleet arrives in HNL tomorrow, July 20, at 13:10 local. It's probably in motion right now, but I could not locate it on any of the flight tracking web sites. Routing is said to by Kuala Lumpur, Guam, Honolulu and onward to the mainland. It will be piloted by Malaysians working for Malindo Air, a Lion Air subsidiary. Said Malaysians will fly it out of HNL for LAX (next day I think) with two Delta pilots performing acceptance tasks enroute. Ok, it's not top men. I overheard the Delta ferry pilots making some arrangements in LAX ops. Talk seemed to indicate that delivery of all 29 would be a steady roll beginning now. I meant to talk to the ferry pilots, but they disappeared before I had a chance.

So there you have it, a verified crew lounge rumor. I'll bet my rumor gets validated with sightings at a mainland airport this week; PK registration, if not still in full Lion Air colors. Or, will another accelerated action lead to planes showing up freshly painted in Delta Colors? Lots of MROs and paint at the two Kuala Lumpur airports. Subang handled a lot of repaints of NW ships post-merger.