Delta Plans to Buy Its First Planes From Airbus : Aerospace: The order for nine jetliners marks a major victory for the European consortium, which is trying to increase its market share in the United States.

Airbus Industrie, which has long set its sights on the U.S. market, has won a solid victory with Delta Air Lines Inc.’s order for nine medium- to long-haul A310-300s, industry analysts said Monday.

The order, Airbus’ first from Delta, secures the four-nation West European consortium a place with one of the most sought-after airline customers in the United States, they said.

“This is obviously good news,” said UBS Phillips & Drew analyst Sash Tusa. “Any order at the moment is good news.”

In East Hartford, Conn., United Technologies Corp. said Monday that its Pratt & Whitney unit won the order from Delta for 18 PW4152 jet engines to power the planes. The engine order was worth about $160 million.

The twin-jet A310 has a basic list price of $74.5 million, making the order worth about $670 million, industry sources said. Delta chose the Airbus in preference to Boeing Co.’s medium- to long-range 767, which also has two engines.

Delta unveiled the order on Thursday, saying it will use the A310s on transatlantic flights. It already has 21 A310s, which were acquired among Pan Am Corp. assets last year.

“Airbus has rather struggled to make inroads in the U.S.,” County Natwest analyst Sandy Morris said. “It obviously makes them a much more serious challenger to Boeing if they could repeat their success in the rest of the world in the U.S.”

Morris said Airbus told analysts recently that in the market for 210- to 250-seat aircraft, which include the A310, Airbus has 36% of the U.S. market, 62% of the European market and 60% of the Asian market.

The Delta order is a coup because the Atlanta-based airline is one of the most financially solid of the U.S. carriers, with a reputation for steady growth and regular profits.

Airbus has fought hard to win U.S. market share, offering generous financing to pull in customers and hiring a former U.S. commerce secretary to head its U.S. subsidiary.

Some of the largest U.S. orders on its books, however, are with the more fragile air carriers.

Northwest Airlines, which was taken private by an investor group in 1989 and is paying off debt from the leveraged buyout, has a whopping 118 Airbuses on order, including 78 short- to medium-range twin-engined A320s.

Continental Airlines Holdings Inc. has 13 twin-engined, medium- to long-haul A330s and seven four-engined long-range A340s on order and Trans World Airlines has ordered 20 A330s. Both are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings to protect them from creditors.

But the outlook for Airbus may be brightening.

Airbus last year sold 25 twin-engined, wide-bodied A300-600 planes to parcel delivery company Federal Express Corp., with options on another 50 of the medium- to long-haul jets, and it has sold 35 to AMR Corp., a subsidiary American Airlines.

“On the whole, U.S. carriers have had very good experiences with Airbuses,” Lehman Bros. analyst Keith Hodgkinson said. “Their operating costs are very, very competitive. . . . I would expect to see more U.S. carriers come in.”

County Natwest’s Morris said airlines are increasingly matching their aircraft purchases to the precise needs of their routes, which he said favors Airbus sales despite Boeing’s huge base in the United States.

He added that arguments in favor of “commonality”--using aircraft from the same manufacturer to cut down on spare parts and other costs--seem to be disappearing.

“That trend gives Airbus an advantage,” he said. “The A310 must just suit the number of passengers and load factors that Delta has.”