Delta Air Lines to install new seats, bins on 225 planes

photo A Delta airlines jet takes off in this file photo.

ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines says it will install new seats and bigger overhead bins on many of the planes it flies within the U.S. It's squeezing more seats onto many of those planes, too.

Delta said on Wednesday that the project will cover 225 planes. Passengers will have electrical power at every seat, and most of them are getting bigger overhead bins and new seats.

Delta will be able to fit more seats onto many of those planes, including about 19 more seats on its Boeing 757-200s, six more on its Airbus A319s, and 10 more on its A320s.

It's getting the extra space by using so-called "slim-line" seats that have a smaller, lighter-weight frame from front to back. And on the 757s, the new kitchens, called galleys, will take up less space. Also, some of the 757s will have fewer business-class seats, making room for more coach seats.

Legroom on the planes will be about the same as now, Delta Air Lines Inc. spokesman Paul Skrbec said. Seats on the Airbus planes will be slightly wider.

Atlanta-based Delta is also overhauling the interiors on its Boeing 737-800s, but the number of seats will remain the same.

Delta's 757s include a mix of planes that it has always owned, and planes it got when it bought Northwest Airlines in 2008. The remodeling will make the interiors on those planes the same.

Delta plans to spend $770 million on the three-year project, which begins this winter and will run through the end of 2016.

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