Delta encourages Boeing to launch NMA

Delta Air Lines chief executive Ed Bastian is encouraging Boeing to launch its proposed New Mid-market Airplane (NMA).We are still very interested in it," he tells investors at the JP Morgan Aviation, Transportation & Industrials Conference on the aircraft today. "Boeing hasn't decided if it's going to launch that aircraft – we hope they will."Delta has upwards of 200 aircraft that it could replace with the NMA, says Bastian citing both its Boeing 757 and 767 fleets. The Atlanta-based carrier operates 204 aircraft in the 757 and 767 type, including 111 aircraft in the 757-200 series, and 56 in the 767-300ER series, Cirium's Fleets Analyzer shows.