I’m not surprised to see United pick the Boeing 787 over the Airbus A350. That’s not too surprising, both because of the plane’s uncertainty, and because airlines are largely looking for lower capacity long haul jets. The first interesting thing to note is that United has only been considering the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 - it sounds like Boeing’s new 777X, which has been delayed until 2025 (at the earliest), isn’t even being considered anymore. United has up to 50 Boom Overtures on order My take on United’s wide body fleet refresh United also has Boom Overture’s supersonic jet on order, but personally I don’t take that too seriously. United technically has A350-900s on orderįurthermore, while not a wide body jet, United does have 50 Airbus A321XLRs on order, which is the long haul narrow body jet that United will use for transatlantic flights, largely replacing Boeing 757-200s. United obviously doesn’t intend to follow through on that order, and United executives have even been on record as saying that they’re considering canceling the order, as it’s not cost prohibitive to do so. Now, United does technically have 45 Airbus A350s on order, but that’s an order that has been deferred for years, and currently deliveries are expected to start in 2027. Given how global of an airline United is, the company sure could use a fleet renewal plan. United is more or less at the end of its wide body order book, as the airline only has a handful of 787-10s still on order, and that’s it. United’s 767s are an average of 24 years old The 767s are an average of 24 years old, the 777s are an average of 18 years old, and the 787s are an average of five years old, so those 767s and 777s will eventually have to be replaced. It’s now apparent that Boeing won out in these negotiations.įor context, United Airlines currently has an all-Boeing wide body fleet. In mid-October we learned how United was looking at ordering 100+ jets, and was allegedly trying to decide between the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787. I don’t think there’s much of a mystery as to what’s being announced here. We now have further confirmation of this, as United and Boeing have sent out media invites for an event on Tuesday, December 13, 2022. Last week The Wall Street Journal reported that United Airlines and Boeing are nearing a deal for a huge 787 Dreamliner order, to be announced before the end of the year. United planning to refresh long haul fleet My take on United’s wide body fleet refresh.United planning to refresh long haul fleet.
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