You would think after losing the UAL WB order Airbus would offer us a killer deal on some A350s including the NTU Qatar A350-1000s.

The 350 is selling. The 330 NEO is not. That’s where the killer deals are but again it’s a 45 year old original design. They could almost rename it the 330 Delta!

The issue is Rolls Royce's unwillingness to deal on the powerplants. That is the supposed hold up on the 350-1000 announcement.

or the MD-330

the 339 is a good frame, but as you mentioned outdated. For our next set of WB orders we need a next gen WB fleet to take us into the 2040s.

We plan on 93 A330’s in the fleet. Deliveries today should be flying past 2050!

Understood. I'm not knocking the 330, but by that point it will not be as efficient an airplane compared to 350/787 upgrades. There is a reason the 339 hasn't been purchased in good numbers. It's a 2/3 solution offered at a good price.

Which pretty much sums up Delta’s aircraft purchases the last 50 years. We absolutely can’t resist a cute little orphan nobody else wants sitting out on the Ramp. Somehow we do seem to make it work and work well. Adoptions include the Convair 880, L1011, MD90, MD11, 737G, 767-400, 717 and 330-900. We even had a couple weird 727’s with winglets!

I only count 80 for 330 fleet.

332: 11
333: 31
339: 38 (19 delivered, 19 on order)

Where are you finding another 13 330s?

The plan when I was just in school was stated as 93 endgame. Might see additional orders attached with the 350 order. Airbus has a big blue light over them and a speaker shouting “attention widebody shoppers!”