In the coming months, Delta Air Lines plans to introduce a very premium domestic narrow body aircraft, with a staggering 44 first class seats. However, this isn’t by design, but is instead intended to make the best of a frustrating situation.
I first covered this several months ago (based on information that JonNYC leaked), but the SkyTeam carrier has now officially announced that we can expect, in terms of the timeline, routes, etc.
Delta planning 164-seat A321neos, with 44 first class seats
Delta intends to introduce a new Airbus A321neo configuration featuring dozens of first class seats. Specifically, this configuration is expected to feature 44 first class seats, 54 extra legroom economy seats, and 66 standard economy seats.
As a point of comparison, Delta’s standard A321neos have 194 seats, including 20 first class seats, 60 extra legroom economy seats, and 114 standard economy seats.
The current plan seems to be that seven planes will get this ultra-premium configuration. With the amount of premium demand nowadays, plus given how lucrative loyalty programs are, I’ve long argued that US carriers should increase the average size of their first class cabins. However, introducing a cabin with 44 first class seats is quite the stretch! So, what’s actually going on here?
Delta is making the best of A321neos in storage
Delta plans to introduce a new subfleet of Airbus A321neos, which will be in a premium, three-cabin configuration. The airline intends to add 21 of these A321neos to its fleet, specifically for premium transcontinental flights (United has similar plans for a subfleet of A321neos).
These planes are expected to feature just 148 seats, including 16 business class seats, 12 premium economy seats, 54 extra legroom economy seats, and 66 standard economy seats. However, several of these planes are now in storage, as Delta is having issues with getting the business class seats certified (that’s very Lufthansa of them, eh?).
With there seemingly being no end in sight to these certification issues, the plan is for Delta to put these planes into service with modified interiors. Keep in mind that the premium economy seats on these planes are comparable to domestic first class, so the idea is that in place of the 16 business class seats, the airline will instead temporarily install an additional 32 premium economy or first class seats.
Parking planes for years is obviously costly, so this seems like a logical enough way for Delta to get some use out of these aircraft, until those certification issues can be worked out. Besides, the airline can temporarily install these premium seats on the plane, and then later install them on other newly delivered A321neos.
Delta says that flights with this plane will be on sale for bookings as of February 21, 2026, and for flights as of June 7, 2026, though notes that customers may see the planes sooner, as they begin entering into service in May. Delta’s plan is to fly these planes on select frequencies from Atlanta (ATL) to Los Angeles (LAX), San Diego (SAN), San Francisco (SFO), and Seattle (SEA).
Here’s how Mauricio Parise, Delta’s VP of Customer Experience Design, describes this:
“Sometimes the supply chain throws us a curve. Rather than wait, we chose to implement a creative solution to ensure our customers had access to some of our newest aircraft in time for the summer travel season.”
“Customers on coast-to-coast routes want more premium seat options and these aircraft, which will also have 54 Delta Comfort seats, will provide our customers with ample choice. For customers who still want a flatbed option, we’ll continue to operate aircraft with Delta One suites – and Delta Premium Select with additional recline, leg room, and footrest – during peak hours between ATL and LAX.”
What’s pretty wild to me is that Delta took delivery of the first of these planes in October 2024, and it’s expected to enter service in the summer of 2026 with modified interiors. So after the plane is parked for nearly two years, it’ll then get a temporary interior.
Delta must be having some really massive, Lufthansa level certification issues with its new business class seats on those planes for things to play out this way. After all, Delta wouldn’t configure these planes in this way if it expected that the seats would be certified by late 2026 or early 2027, as it wouldn’t be worth the effort.
Here’s to hoping that Delta has better luck with its upcoming Airbus A350-1000s, which are expected to feature a new business class, or else that could pose major issues for the carrier’s growth plans.
Bottom line
In the coming months, Delta has plans to introduce a new Airbus A321neo layout with a staggering 44 first class seats. What’s going on here is that Delta has new A321neos that are supposed to get flat beds, but the airline seemingly can’t get those seats certified.
So rather than keeping these planes in storage with no end in sight, Delta plans to fly up to seven of these with standard domestic first class seats in the space of the business class cabin.
I just find the timeline here to be pretty wild, given that we’re talking about planes that started to be delivered in October 2024, and now they’re going to entering service in the summer of 2026 with temporary interiors. So when will these planes actually fly with the intended interiors? 2028, best case scenario?
What do you make of Delta’s planned premium A321neo configuration situation?