Delta Air Lines (DAL) Acquiring MD-90 Jets From Japan Airlines

In a deal with Japan Airlines Corp., Delta Air Lines (DAL) announced it will be purchasing nine used MD-90 jets from the company in order to replace aging DC-9s.

Douglas Runte, a managing director at Piper Jaffray & Co., noted, “MD-90s have appraised values of $5 million to $9 million, depending on vintage, and it is highly unlikely that Delta would be paying more than that range for the Japan Airlines aircraft.”

Saying the MD-90 jets are a “very capital-efficient aircraft,” President Ed Bastian said in the latter part of 2010 that the company has plans to buy close to 50 of the used jets over the next couple of years.

Once the planes have been refurbished, deliveries to Delta should start in January 2012.

Delta was trading at $10.16, up $0.01, or 0.10 percent, as of 12:18 PM EST.