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Airbus said to near win over boeing for Delta Air Wide-Body Jets
11/20/2014
| By Julie Johnsson, Andrea Rothman and Michael Sasso [Bloomberg]
© Airbus |
Airbus Group is close to winning an order from Delta Air Lines Inc. for as many as 50 wide-body jets valued at about $13 billion, beating competing planes from Boeing Co. (BA), people familiar with the matter said.
The sale would be a mix of Airbus’s A330neo and A350-900 planes, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public. The purchase with Atlanta-based Delta is still being negotiated and may be announced as early as next week, one person said.
A deal would build on earlier Airbus successes at Delta, including a 40-plane order in 2013 with a list value of $5.6 billion. Delta had favored models from Chicago-based Boeing over Airbus until acquiring Northwest Airlines in 2008. Boeing supported Delta’s bankruptcy restructuring plan in 2007 in the face of a hostile takeover bid by US Airways.
“I view this as great news for the A330neo,” said Michel Merluzeau, an aviation consultant based in Kirkland, Washington. “It gets a big name attached to it” with Delta’s backing, he said by e-mail, while the A350 may have beaten Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliner because Airbus had more delivery slots available following the cancellation of an order by Emirates Airline.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
An employee assembles a model Airbus A330neo aircraft, produced by Airbus Group NV, for... Read More
Betsy Talton, a Delta spokeswoman, said the carrier had no comment on its fleet plans. Stefan Schaffrath, a spokesman for Toulouse, France-based Airbus, said the company doesn’t comment on talks with customers, as did Marc Birtel, a Boeing spokesman...
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