Airlines/United States
Is Delta Air Lines safe?
Last fatal mainline accident: Flight 1288 in 1996 at Pensacola, where an engine failed on the takeoff roll and debris killed two passengers. Earlier fatal accidents: Flight 1141 in 1988 at Dallas-Fort Worth and Flight 191 in 1985 at Dallas. One of the world's largest fleets, with an older average age.
A modelled estimate and protected opinion, not a factual safety verdict. Informational only, not safety or travel advice, provided as-is. See our terms & disclaimer.
Operator safety tier
Elite
Modelled fatal-accident risk on the order of 1 in 11 million flights.
A model estimate from validated signals (the dominant factor in a flight's safety), not a measurement of this airline's own flight history. IOSA-registered; last fatal accident 1996 (30y ago). Full methodology.
Safety signals
Fleet
Counting every airframe we hold for this airline's code, which is more than the fleet figure in our carrier data (900). The table below lists them.
The actual aircraft in Delta Air Lines's fleet
Individual airframes we hold for Delta Air Lines, with build years taken from public registries and sourced references. These are the specific aircraft you might be boarding, not an industry average. Where we cannot date enough of a subfleet we leave the age blank rather than estimate it.
| Aircraft | In our registry | Average age | Built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-900 | 166 | 11 yrs | 2011 to 2019 |
| Bombardier CRJ900 | 136 | 16.5 yrs | 2006 to 2021 |
| Bombardier CRJ200 | 124 | 23.3 yrs | 2000 to 2005 |
| Airbus A321neo | 100 | 2.5 yrs | 2022 to 2026 |
| Airbus A321ceo | 99 | 7.6 yrs | 2016 to 2021 |
| Boeing 757-200 | 95 | 29.5 yrs | 1985 to 2005 |
| Boeing 717-200 | 91 | 24.9 yrs | 1999 to 2006 |
| Boeing 737-800 | 77 | 25.2 yrs | 1998 to 2014 |
| Airbus A319 | 57 | 24.6 yrs | 1999 to 2003 |
| Airbus A320 (ceo) | 50 | 30.2 yrs | 1991 to 2003 |
| Boeing 767-300ER | 43 | 30.5 yrs | 1990 to 2000 |
| Airbus A220-300 | 43 | 2.9 yrs | 2020 to 2026 |
We can date 165 of the 166 Boeing 737-900 airframes we hold for Delta Air Lines. They average 11 years old, built between 2011 and 2019.