Where Delta Air Lines Is Using Its Ex-Lion Air Boeing 737-900ERs

Delta's first ex-Lion Air 737-900ER entered revenue service on November 19th, 2022. Registered N951DX, the 9.3-year-old aircraft has since the 19th exclusively operated between Atlanta and Panama City/Northwest Florida Beaches.

Ex-Lion Air 737-900ERs: a summary

Delta has obtained 33 ex-Lion Air 737-900ERs, which it presumably secured at a comparatively low price. It has a long history of acquiring used equipment. The first example, N951DX, was previously with Malaysia's Malindo Air, a Lion Air unit, as 9M-LNL, as shown below. It is believed that five more aircraft will be delivered by the year's end, and all 33 will be flying for Delta by the end of next October.

That Delta will fly them so quickly is influenced by the ongoing staff shortages at Delta Connection. The speed of introduction means they will not yet be retrofitted with Delta's own cabin and hard product, with significant difference between its existing 737-900ERs and the ex-Lion Air examples. There's no WiFi or entertainment, and there's no 'proper' Comfort+ class. However, Delta says he'll add it all between 2023-2024, standardizing equipment and product.

The ex-Lion Air equipment have 173 to 180 seats. There are 12 seats in domestic first, and in economy, either 161 (including 24 Comfort+) or 168 (including 6 in Comfort+). In contrast, Delta's own 737-900ERs have 20 seats in domestic first and 160 in economy (including 21 Comfort+).

Photo: Alex Wilson via Flickr.

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256 miles for now: a route summary

While different aircraft configurations are less good for product consistency, even more so when combined with an inferior hard product, it is useful to better identify where they're used.

Searching Cirium's schedules for Delta's 737-900ERs with 12 rather than 20 first seats reveals five routes as of December 2nd, all from Atlanta. Note that more will be coming, so treat it as temporary. They're summarized in the following table.

As the average sector distance of ex-Lion Air equipment is just 256 miles (412km), against 742 miles (1,194km) for its full 737-900ER network from Atlanta, the relatively inferior cabins will have little impact.

Delta's ex-Lion Air initial 737-900ER network — (Initial ex-Lion Air 737-900ER network.)

Image: GCMap.

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Where they're flying for now

Note that most routes are, for now, scheduled only for a fairly short period of time, although they might be extended. Also, frequencies often vary wildly depending on the day. For example, Birmingham has between 1 and 7 ex-Lion Air 737 flights daily, while Panama City is almost always 2 daily, but at times up to 5 daily.

Atlanta to...	Regular ex-Lion Air 737-900ER start date	Ex-Lion Air services	Find flights (some are quicker to drive!)
Panama City	November 9th	Up to 5 daily	Click here for Atlanta-Panama City flights
Birmingham	December 20th	Up to 7 daily	Click here for Atlanta-Birmingham flights
Destin Fort Walton Beach	January 9th	Up to 2 daily	Click here for Atlanta-Destin flights
Savannah	January 9th	Up to 2 daily	Click here for Atlanta-Savannah flights
Melbourne	February 6th	Up to 2 daily	Click here for Atlanta-Melbourne flights