Gallery: Delta Air Lines A350-900 debut

Delta Air Lines

Aaron KarpEarlier this month, Delta Air Lines upped its cargo output to a daily service by adding flights from Los Angeles to supplement its Detroit service that launched in late March. The A350-900 flights will operate daily to and from Shanghai in China with a stop in Incheon, South Korea.
Aaron Karp

The Delta One Suite, of which there will be 32 on each Delta A350-900.

Aaron Karp

The Delta One Suite has a sliding door that allows privacy for business-class passengers.

Aaron Karp

Premium Select seating on the Delta A350-900. Delta is outfitting each A350 with 48 Premium Select seats.

Aaron Karp

Economy seating on the Delta A350-900. Delta A350s will be configured with 306 seats—32 Delta One Suites, 48 in Premium Select and 226 in economy.

Aaron Karp

The view out of the window on the Delta A350-900 demonstration flight for international journalists.

Journalists from 18 countries came to Atlanta Oct. 16-18 to see Delta Air Lines publicly debut its first Airbus A350-900, which will enter service in late October on the Detroit-Tokyo Narita route. Delta considers the A350-900 to be its new “flagship” aircraft, replacing the iconic Boeing 747-400 that will soon be retired from the airline’s fleet. Delta will debut two new product offerings on the A350: the Delta One Suite, which will enable business-class passengers to travel in an enclosed space, and the “Premium Select” cabin, a new international premium economy product. It expects to have five A350-900s by the end of 2017 and has 25 total on order. Delta will mainly use the A350-900 on flights between the US and Asia, but announced this week it will also use the aircraft on a transatlantic route: Detroit-Amsterdam A350-900 service will start in March 2018.

ATW Senior Editor Aaron Karp was in Atlanta for the event, which included touring the aircraft and taking a 2-hour demonstration flight.