Delta to buy 50 wide-body jets from Airbus, not Boeing

Delta Air Lines has chosen Airbus over Boeing with an order for 50 long-haul wide-bodied jets worth about $14 billion at list prices.

The order will be split between the new Airbus A350-900 and the updated A330, the A330-900 neo, Airbus confirmed Thursday after reports of the order began circulating.

“When the most successful U.S. airline today … says ‘yes, we want 50 more widebody planes,’ you can’t debate the fact that it is a massive endorsement of your product line,” John Leahy, Airbus’ chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Delta also has on order 10 A330-300s and 45 A321 neo planes, bringing its order backlog with Airbus to 105 aircraft, Airbus said.

It was a hotly contested competition, Leeham News said in a report this week.

Airbus became the winner in part because it could deliver the A330 neo earlier than Boeing could its 787 Dreamliner, Leeham News reported.

Boeing had offered five new 777-200LR planes as a bridge until delivery slots for the 787 were available, it said.

It’s a major disappointment to Boeing because of the high number of planes involved and because Delta is one of the Big Three U.S. carriers, Leeham News said.

The order is a coup for Airbus for the same reasons. It also gives the Airbus neo program a big boost.

On Thursday, Boeing said Kuwait Airways had signed an intent to buy 10 Boeing 777-300ER airplanes, worth $3.3 billion at list prices, although airlines typically don’t pay list price.

“We appreciate the start of a new partnership with Kuwait Airways,” Marty Bentrott, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of sales for Middle East, Russia and Central Asia, said in a statement. “Boeing looks forward to an enduring relationship with Kuwait Airways.”

Spirit AeroSystems builds the nose section of the 787 and the forward section of the 777 in Wichita.

The A330 neo is an upgraded version of the Airbus A330, which includes new Rolls Royce engines.

With the order, Delta will replace aging Boeing 747-400 and 767-300ER planes.

Airbus has 1,300 orders for the A330 family of airplanes from more than 100 operators, and 750 orders for its A350 XWB from 39 customers.

This story was originally published November 20, 2014 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Delta to buy 50 wide-body jets from Airbus, not Boeing."