Delta Air Lines Inc. agreed to buy 100 Boeing Co. 737 single-aisle jets with a catalog value of $8.5 billion as the carrier postponed plans to buy another 100 smaller jets from Embraer SA or Bombardier Inc.
Deliveries of the 180-seat Boeing 737-900ER jets will begin in 2013, Atlanta-based Delta said Thursday in a statement. Separate talks with Embraer and Bombardier have been delayed at least until 2012, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
Winning the Delta deal is a boost for Boeing after losing its exclusive ties to American Airlines in July as that carrier split a 460-plane order between Chicago-based Boeing and Airbus SAS. Delta had flown only Boeings until adding hundreds of planes from Toulouse, France-based Airbus when it bought Northwest Airlines in 2008.
“This should relieve some fear of market-share loss” to Airbus and its new A320neo narrow-body jet, Robert Spingarn, a Credit Suisse analyst in New York, said Thursday in a note to clients.
Bloomberg News
