Delta’s Next A350 Delivery Will Be a Team USA Livery

As spotted by an eagle eyed photographer, one of the next Delta A350s to roll off the assembly line will be a special Team USA livery. This will accompany the A330NEO already in service sporting a similar paint job. As the airplane looks fresh off the line, it may go into service with the carrier just in time for the Paris Olympics and will likely be used exclusively on flights to the French capital to show off Delta's commitment to Team USA and their joint venture with the flag carrier Air France.

Seeing a special livery from Delta is quite unique! Unlike American and United, the widget seems very adverse to special paint jobs only opting for just a handful of special planes such as the Breast Cancer pink 767-400, A330NEO Team USA, Thank You A321, and the few SkyTeam branded planes they have. Compared to United and American they boast proudly their former airline colors before mergers and specialty planes that I just love to see. It's a shame but I hope that Delta continues this trend of special paints for more aircraft down the line, and as a former Northwest Airlines loyalist I would love to see some retro liveries.

Ship 3521, which we can see by the tail number, will be the 21st new (not former LATAM) bird to hit Delta's fleet. It is rumored that all new Delta planes coming from the French factory will also include more Delta One seats as well as a reduced economy cabin. For all the airplanes prior to these new deliveries from 2024 onward, the seat count is rumored to be under 280 rather than the over 300 seats they currently have. Some have speculated that the reduced seats is due to performance issues on Delta's longest flights to South Africa and Australia, a reduced amount of economy seats plus increased premium seats likely will make up for any revenue loss.

Final Thoughts

It's nice to see another special airplane from Delta, hopefully it will be hitting the skies for the Olympics. While the pictures are just starting to circulate now, Delta will probably have a ceremony or big event to reveal this plane when it finally is certified to fly. One livery I would love to see in one of Delta's upcoming A350 or A330NEO orders is an old Northwest scheme, there are still a lot of legacy Northwest Airlines employees at Delta and it would pay such a significant tribute to those employees. However I highly doubt we'd ever get anything like that!

What special livery would you like to see on the next Delta airplane?