Before its eventual merger with Northwest Airlines in the late 2000s, Delta Air Lines had only flown one type of Airbus aircraft, the A310. These aircraft came from Pan Am when Delta acquired the airline's transatlantic routes in 1991. The planes had a relatively short spell at Delta Air Lines that lasted until just 1995.
A brief history of Delta's A310 fleet
When Pan American World Airways ceased operations in 1991, Delta Air Lines acquired its transatlantic routes and hub operations at New York JFK and Frankfurt, Germany. This gave Delta a solid footing in the transatlantic market, where the airline remains strong today. In addition to taking over these operations, Delta took on 21 A310s from Pan Am as part of a 45-aircraft acquisition agreement.
Seven of these aircraft were examples of the A310-200 variant, while another 14 were longer-range A310-300s. In 1993, Delta retired nine ex-Pan Am A310s and replaced them with new A310-300s leased from Airbus. This meant that, all in all, Delta flew a total of 30 A310s, with this figure comprising seven -200s and 23 -300s.
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As previously mentioned, the Atlanta-based US legacy carrier's relationship with the A310 ultimately proved relatively short, lasting just four years. According to the Delta Flight Museum, the last A310s exited Delta's fleet in 1995, and they were replaced by another twin-engine widebody aircraft type in the form of the Boeing 767-300 to "simplify [the] fleet for better efficiency and cost-savings."
In closer detail
Looking further into the Delta Flight Museum's profile of the SkyTeam founding member's A310 fleet, we can see that the carrier fitted the widebodies with a three-class configuration. This was a low-density affair, with 12 first class, 30 business, and 154 economy class seats, giving the type a total capacity of just 196 passengers.
As mentioned, the primary function of Delta's A310s was to serve Pan Am's former transatlantic routes out of its hub at New York JFK Airport. However, the Delta Flight Museum notes that they also occasionally flew domestically.
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In terms of comings and goings, the first A310 to leave the airline was N823PA, an A3120-300 that departed in August 1993. It went on to become a cargo aircraft and was eventually retired by FedEx in 2019 after a 29-year career. Meanwhile, the final departure took place in 1995, when N843AB (another A310-300) left in December of that year. It flew for Aeroflot and PIA before being withdrawn in 2013.
Delta's relationship with Airbus today
Nowadays, Airbus designs play a much more significant role in Delta Air Lines' present fleet. According to data from ch-aviation.com, the carrier presently flies narrowbody designs from the multinational European manufacturer such as the A220, A319, A320, A321, and A321neo. As for widebodies, these see representation in the form of the A330, A330neo, and A350 families.
Going forward, Delta is continuing to strongly emphasize Airbus products when it comes to new aircraft purchases. At present, ch-aviation's data shows that it has outstanding orders for 69 A220-300s, 116 A321neos, 16 A330neos (of the larger A330-900 variant), and, last but not least, another six A350-900 jets.
Did you ever fly on Delta's Airbus A310s? If so, do you have fond memories of the type? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!
Sources: ATDB.aero, ch-aviation.com, Delta Flight Museum