Delta To Makes Cuts in Pacific and Retire 25% of Its 747 Fleet This Year

By Jack Harty / Published July 31, 2014

Delta Air Lines will retire four of its 16 Boeing 747-400s by the end of 2014, and the carrier will make some cuts and changes to its Pacific route network.

Boeing 747-400 Retirements

The carrier has 16 747-400s in its fleet which were inherited when it merged with Northwest. 25% of its 747 aircraft (four) will be retired by the end of the year. Delta says it is speeding up the retirement of the 747s due to “a re-evaluation of options to improve our international performance.” Three are slated to be retired by the end of September.

Some are slightly surprised by Delta’s decision to speed up the retirement as all 16 aircraft recently went through a major cabin refresh.

Last year, Delta ordered ten Airbus A330-300 wide-body aircraft, and four are expected to arrive next year.

Pacific Network Changes

Delta says it will cancel its flights between Tokyo Narita and Hong Kong as well as flights between Nagoya and Manila effective October 26, 2014.

With four of the 747s departing the fleet by the end of the year, the carrier will have to redeploy its aircraft on some of the existing 747 routes. The carrier will begin operating a 777-200 between Atlanta and Tokyo as well as between Los Angeles and Tokyo starting on September 30. On October 26, it will downgrade its flights between Detroit and Nagoya to an Airbus A330-200 from a 747.

The A330s, 767-300s, and 777s are all being redeployed in the Atlantic and Pacific networks since there were some other service reductions.

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Photos courtesy of jplphoto

Contact the author at Jack.Harty@Airchive.com.