UPDATE 1-Emissions standards a factor in Delta's Bombardier jets deal - Delta executive

(Adds executive comment on Boeing (NYSE:BA) variant, fleet strategy,
changes headline and dateline)
By Jeffrey Dastin
ATLANTA, April 29 (Reuters) - Concern over future U.N.
aircraft emissions standards was a factor in a Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL)
Inc DAL.N deal announced this week to buy 75 new CS100 jets
from Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO , a Delta executive said on Friday.
Delta's decision was in part because the planes will comply
with standards that the United Nations aviation arm will likely
introduce over the next decade, said Greg May, senior vice
president for supply chain maintenance and fleet strategy.
Atlanta-based Delta, the No.2 U.S. carrier by traffic,
currently has an older fleet than rivals United Continental
Holdings Inc UAL.N and American Airlines Group Inc AAL.O ,
though Delta manages thanks to its large maintenance operation
called TechOps and has renovated interiors.
The pending standards from the International Civil Aviation
Organization would apply to all new aircraft models launched
after 2020 and would be phased in for existing aircraft built
from 2023. These preliminary efforts to cap carbon
dioxide emissions were a factor in Delta's deal with Bombardier,
which was announced Thursday, May said.
"It's definitely a consideration. It's not the deciding
factor, but we're always monitoring our entire fleet for
emissions, noise, environmental friendliness," May told
reporters. He was speaking aboard the company's first A321 jet
from Airbus Group SE AIR.PA , which was delivered in March.
Separately, May said that if Boeing Co BA.N were in the
future to make a new, larger 737 MAX variant, Delta could be
interested.
"We will have interest (in) a larger and longer-range MAX,"
he said. "The bigger interest point for us on that is to get
more range."
However, Delta's incoming Chief Executive Ed Bastian said
earlier Friday that the airline is not in the market for a
Boeing order for the time being, after placing the CS100 order
and announcing Friday it would buy 37 more Airbus A321s.

May said that Delta does not like placing large plane orders
at any given time that would lock in the airline's growth and
not allow it to respond flexibly to customer demand.
"Huge orders for us would be firm orders for 150, 200
aircraft with one manufacturing type. What we find is as far as
getting economy-of-scale pricing, 50 to 75 aircraft is plenty to
really get the cutting-edge kind of deals that we want," May
said.
Delta has a fleet of about 1,300 aircraft, he said.