Delta Air Lines appears to have plans to introduce a very premium domestic narrow body aircraft, with a staggering 44 first class seats. However, this might not necessarily be by design, but instead, to make the best of a frustrating situation…
Delta planning 164-seat A321neos, with 44 first class seats
JonNYC reports that 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.
Let me emphasize that there aren’t any flights on sale yet showing these configurations, but clearly JonNYC has some insights regarding this planned layout, so I’d take him at his word on that.
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?
Is Delta making the best of A321neos that are in storage?
I’ve written about how Delta plans to introduce a new subfleet of Airbus A321neos, which will be in a premium configuration. The airline plans to add 21 of these A321neos to its fleet, specifically for premium transcontinental flights.
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 theory is that Delta is going 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 32 first class seats.
Parking planes for months on end is obviously costly, so this seems like a logical enough way for Delta to get some use out of these planes, until those certification issues can be worked out. Besides, the airline can temporarily install these first class seats on the plane, and then later install them on other newly delivered A321neos.
I’m curious to see how this situation evolves, as these planes could enter service in the coming months. With 44 first class seats, they better increase staffing on these planes, or else service will be challenging. We’ll mark this as “developing” for now, but it seems like this is likely to happen.
Bottom line
Delta has plans to introduce a new Airbus A321neo layout with a staggering 44 first class seats. While this part is only speculation, it appears that what’s going on is that the airline may be making the best of its A321neos that are in storage.
Delta is planning on introducing new premium transcon A321neos with flat beds in business class, but the airline is having issues getting those seats certified. So rather than keeping these planes in storage for months on end, Delta may just throw some standard domestic first class seats into the business class cabin, and fly the planes on other routes.
I’ll be sure to provide an update once these planes are scheduled on some flights…
What do you make of Delta’s planned premium A321neo configuration?