Delta Air Lines will enter into an agreement with Boeing to purchase 40 737-900ER planes valued at about $4 billion at list prices, and will add smaller Embraer jets after it ratifies a tentative agreement with its pilots.
The 737 order will take the total for the model to 140, Delta said. A 737-900ER costs $99 million at list price, before the discounts that are customary in the industry. Delta plans to deploy the jets as replacements for other narrowbody aircraft scheduled to be retired through 2019.
Delta will also acquire 20 Embraer 190s held by Boeing and previously operated by another carrier, the airline said. The E190s will enter service in the fourth quarter of 2016 and will be used on domestic routes.
The announcement comes after the carrier said Tuesday it would commit to add a new 100-seat jet model to its mainline fleet under the airline’s proposed contract agreement with pilots. The accord also would let Delta deploy as many as 25 extra regional jets with 70 or 76 seats, according to a summary sent to Air Line Pilots Association members.
Airlines prize the bigger regional planes because operating costs are spread among more passengers, while pilot unions welcome growth in main jet operations because of the extra jobs.
Delta’s pilot union leaders will vote on the contract proposal Wednesday, according to Kelly Regus, a spokeswoman for the airline’s ALPA chapter. Approval from the so-called master executive council would send the plan to a ratification vote among rank-and-file members.
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