During the recent Q3 2025 Delta Air Lines earnings call, a senior executive at the airline made some interesting comments about the types of planes the airline will fly across the Atlantic, which can only be described as a swipe at United. However, do the comments actually make sense? Let’s take a look… thanks to Matt for flagging this.
Delta’s strange stance on long haul narrow body flying
During Delta’s recent earnings call, Sheila Kahyaoglu, an Analyst at Jeffries, asked Delta President Glen Hauenstein the following about transatlantic flying:
“How do we think about Atlantic capacity next year, Glen, you mentioned more evenly dispersed. I guess how are you thinking about that? And maybe secondly, given your competitor just announced some new additions, how are you thinking about competitive capacity, your own network planning, as well as the A330, A350 product?”
Here’s part of how Hauenstein responded:
“Well, I think our product is best in class in the transatlantic. We continue to monitor our relative performance in terms of Net Promoter Scores. It’s leading right now, and it’s going to get much better as we continue to deliver new airplanes with the Delta One suites and with the enhanced Delta Premium Select and larger Delta C+ cabin. So I’m really excited about the product that we’re putting in market.”
“We’ve chosen not to fly narrow bodies in the transatlantic because of product and brand issues. And so we’re not going to go in that direction.”
Before I share my thoughts, let me provide a bit of context here:
- Hauenstein is presumably referencing how United is increasingly flying Boeing 737 MAXs in transatlantic markets, where the forward cabin is being sold as premium economy
- Hauenstein could also be referencing how United flies Boeing 757s in some transatlantic markets, where the forward cabin is marketed as Polaris business class, making it among the only non-direct aisle access long haul business class of any US airline
- It’s also possible that Hauenstein is indirectly referencing how Delta hasn’t ordered the Airbus A321XLR, while both American and United are going big on that plane, including for transatlantic flying
- Arguably what Hauenstein is saying isn’t actually accurate — Delta does fly Boeing 757s seasonally to Iceland, and I think most people would generally categorize that as a transatlantic flight
Are there product and brand issues with narrow bodies?
There’s no denying that some consumers don’t like the idea of flying narrow body planes on long haul flights — I’ve written about the pros and cons of this in the past. With the A321XLR being one of the newest aircraft in service, we’re going to see more transatlantic flights with single aisle planes.
That being said, of all the reasons to not fly narrow body planes on longer haul flights, product and brand issues seems like some of the more unusual justifications.
If we’re looking at United’s 737 MAX Europe expansion, for example, the key point to understand is that all of these flights are to destinations you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach nonstop from the United States. For example, it’s not like United is flying 737 MAXs from Newark (EWR) to Frankfurt (FRA). Instead, the airline is flying them to places like Santiago de Compostela, Spain (SCQ), an airport that isn’t even served by any SkyTeam airline.
So do the perceived “product and brand issues” outweigh offering service to an airport that’s otherwise hard to get to? If you ask me, that seems like a stretch. It’s not like the airline is selling the forward cabin as business class. And if there are brand issues with this, then how does Delta explain flying 757s to Iceland?
There’s also an irony to Delta being concerned about product issues, when the carrier’s 767-300ERs have the worst international wide body business class product of any of the “big three” carriers, and those are used on all kinds of routes to Europe.
Regarding the A321XLR, I can totally understand if Delta has just decided it can’t make the economics of the jet work, given the low capacity of these planes, plus the labor costs at US airlines. At the same time, in the long run (once 767-300ERs are taken off transatlantic flights), Delta’s smallest long haul aircraft will be the A330. That means there will be all kinds of markets that American and United can make work with their A321XLRs, which Delta can’t make work, simply from a capacity standpoint. Will that turn out to be a competitive disadvantage for Delta?
Bottom line
In recent times, we’ve seen United increasingly use narrow body planes for its long haul expansion. This isn’t to replace existing routes, but instead, to add service to markets that simply couldn’t be served with wide body planes.
Delta executives claim the airline won’t move in that direction due to “product and brand issues,” though one certainly wonders about that logic. For one, Delta does use 757s for flights to places like Iceland. Furthermore, do the “product and brand issues” outweigh being able to offer service to destinations in the first place?
What do you make of Delta’s stance on long haul flying with narrow body planes?
