The Airbus A380 won't be flying for Delta Air Lines anytime soon.
That's not a huge surprise, as industry observers have long regarded the superjumbo A380 as a bad fit for the fleet plans at most U.S. carriers. But surprise or not, a Delta executive affirmed that the world's largest passenger jet is not currently being considered by Delta.
"We don't see an application for the A380 in our network," Steve Dickson, Delta's SVP for flight operations, is quoted by Reuters as saying Monday at the 2014 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Forum in Atlanta.
Dickson adds four-engine planes — such as the A380 — were "not viable" aircraft options for most of Delta's markets, according to Reuters.
"The reliability of the two-engine airplanes and the efficiency of them is just too compelling," Dickson says.
Delta has recently put out to aircraft manufacturers a request for proposals for an order of up to 50 wide-body jets. The order would be to replace Delta's aging Boeing 747 and 767 wide-body aircraft, according to Reuters.
In addition to Airbus' A380, Dickson's comments also would seem to indicate that Delta will be cool on the idea of ordering new models of Boeing's 747, also a four-engine aircraft.
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