![A330-900-Delta a plane flying in the sky](https://travelingformiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/A330-900-Delta.jpg)
TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published. For more details please see the advertising disclosure found at the bottom of every page.
Delta took delivery of its first Airbus A330-900neo at the end of last month and was scheduled to become the first US airline too operate the new aircraft on a long-haul route in a little under a month’s time.
Well, based on what the Delta reservation system is currently showing, Delta will still be the first airline to operate the A330-900neo but the aircraft will no longer be entering service on 1 July as had been expected.
While doing some research for a post that’s coming out later today I noticed that the Seattle – Shanghai route still shows a Boeing 767-300 operating the route at a time when the A330-900neo was expected to have taken over.
As things stand, it looks as if Delta will continue operating a 767 on this route for the first two weeks of July with the A330-900neo now not entering service until 15 July for departures from Seattle and 17 July for departures from Shanghai.
Here’s ExpertFlyer showing a 767 operating to Shanghai on 14 July and the A330-900neo operating on 15 July….
…and here’s ExpertFlyer showing a 767 operating from Shanghai to Seattle up to 16 July with the A330-900neo taking over the return route on 17 July:
At the time of writing, the date for the introduction of the A330-900neo on the Seattle – Seoul route (1 August) and the date for the introduction of the aircraft on the Seattle – Tokyo Narita route (31 August) have not changed.
To the best of my knowledge Delta hasn’t offered up a reason for the delay in introducing the A330-900neo into long-haul service so I’m left to speculate that the airline doesn’t think a month is enough time in which to get its crews up to speed on the new aircraft.
I haven’t spotted any domestic routes on which Delta has scheduled its new aircraft for crew orientation flights but, presumably, we should soon see the new A330-900neo flying a number of intra-US routes as Delta gets its crews ready to operate the aircraft on its routes across the Pacific.
Sadly, if you’re booked to fly Delta’s Seattle – Shanghai service in the first two weeks of July you won’t be flying in the airline’s latest aircraft and, unless you’ve booked a refundable fare, you will not be able to change your flights without incurring a penalty.
Were any readers set to fly the inaugural A330-900neo flight on 1 July?
[…] Back in February Delta announced that it would launch international A330-900neo service between Seattle and Shanghai from 1 July 2019 but, based on the aircraft currently scheduled on this route, it looks as if this may have been pushed back to 15 July 2019. […]
[…] aircraft set to enter service on the airline’s Seattle – Shanghai route from 1 July. Earlier this month that entry into service date was pushed back to 15 July but the schedules on Delta’s two other planned A330-900neo routes remained firm….up […]