This story just goes to show how many aged (and cracking)...

This story just goes to show how many aged (and cracking) aircraft Delta has in it's fleet and will need to keep flying for some year's to come..
All the US airlines are in the same boat and most have been in and out of bankruptcy and unable to afford to keep up the modernization of their fleets over the year's.
Should a deal get done with Delta then IMO there will be a flood of other's to allow the US airlines to keep their aged fleets operating until they can be eventually retired
and modernized....Just MHO

Delta mulls massive aircraft purchase
January 15, 2011 - 4:24AM

Delta Airlines is moving to replace 200 aging aircraft, according to an internal memo, in what could spell the world's largest plane order.

The US airline has approached manufacturers with a view to buying "100 to 200 firm aircraft" with an "option for 200 more" from early 2013, according to a memo posted on Delta's intranet Thursday and received by AFP Friday.

If all planes were bought from the same supplier it would be the largest aircraft purchase in history, surpassing an IndiGo order of 180 planes from Airbus, which was announced this week.

"Several major aircraft manufacturers" were approached in December, according to the document, as Delta tries to replace 200 narrow-bodied jets, including the Airbus A320, the DC9-50 and the Boeing 757-200.

The memo did not name the companies approached.

Since 2007, Delta has bought 60 lower-capacity aircraft, all from Boeing.

"We're now starting to plan for the long term, to ensure that we continue to maintain a flexible, cost-efficient fleet that meets our customers' needs in the years to come, replace retiring airplanes and provide for domestic mainline growth." Nat Pieper, the head of fleet strategy, told staff

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/delta-mulls-massive-aircraft-purchase-20110115-19rkw.html