Delta to retire MD-88s by mid-3Q20, mulls other phase-outs

Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) has brought forward the retirement of its 32 remaining MD-88s by six months to the end of July 2020 and is also considering retiring other aircraft earlier than originally planned.

Delta said in a quarterly filing that the accelerated retirement of the MD-88s, which were originally scheduled to leave the fleet by the end of the year, resulted in a USD22 million impairment charge. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, the airline owns all 32 McDonnell Douglas jets, which are 29-years-old on average.

The airline underlined that while further accelerated retirements were possible, no firm decisions have been taken yet.

Speaking during an investor call, Chief Executive Ed Bastian identified further types likely to exit the fleet.

"Certainly anything that was scheduled to retire over the next five years as an accelerated path towards retirement just to be very simple and straightforward. If the MD-88s were already retiring this year so that's on the MD-90s. We'll probably be making that decision soon in a similar vein. We got B767s, B757s, there are some of the older models that we operate. We will certainly be looking at the smaller regional jets that we operate," he said.

The airline currently operates fourteen MD-90s (22.6 years old on average), fifty-six B767-300(ER)s and twenty-one B767-400(ER)s (24 and 19.4 years old on average, respectively), and 111 B757-200s and sixteen B757-300s (23.5 and 17.3 years old on average, respectively). All of these aircraft are owned by Delta.

In terms of the airline's regional jet fleet, Delta owns the following aircraft operated by its regional capacity providers:
twenty-two CRJ200s, including three operated by Endeavor Air (9E, Minneapolis/St. Paul) and nineteen by SkyWest Airlines (United States of America) (OO, Salt Lake City),
twenty-two CRJ700s, including 14 operated by Endeavor Air, six by GoJet Airlines (G7, St. Louis Lambert Int'l), and two by SkyWest,
128 CRJ900s, including 105 operated by Endeavor Air and 23 by SkyWest,
four E170s operated by Republic Airways (YX, Indianapolis Int'l), and
thirty-six E175s including 30 operated by Republic Airways and six by SkyWest.

The airline's mainline fleet also includes thirty-one A220-100s, fifty-seven A319-100s, sixty-two A320-200s, 100 A321-200s, eleven A330-200s, thirty-one A330-300s, five A330-900s, thirteen A350-900s, eighty-eight B717-200s, ten B737-700s, seventy-seven B737-800s, 130 B737-900(ER)s, eight B777-200(ER)s, and ten B777-200(LR)s.

In a separate report, The Air Current wrote that Delta was in talks with Boeing about the potential swap of its B717-200s for a new order of 100 B737 MAX. The reported deal would allow the carrier to significantly reduce its leasing expenses, as 63 of the B717s are leased from Hawk Leasing. This constitutes almost half of all aircraft leased by Delta, given the carrier owns the bulk of its fleet. However, Delta later refuted the report, saying that no such talks were in progress.

Delta has also reported further financial steps it has taken to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It said in a stock market filing that it intends to carry out a private offering with eligible purchasers of USD1.5 billion in aggregate principal amount of senior secured notes due in 2025. It also intends to enter into a new USD1.5 billion loan due in 2023. Both instruments will be used to boost the carrier's liquidity. The airline plans to use its gates, slots, and routes as collateral.

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