BA to seek bids to replace long haul fleet
20.09.11
British Airways will study the latest plans for wide-body jets by Boeing and Airbus later this year as it looks to replace its oldest Boeing 747s, an airline executive said yesterday. Boeing is working on a revamped model of its 777 365-seater called the 777-9X and is also looking at a stretched version of its 787 Dreamliner called the 787-10. Airbus, its European rival, is developing a 350-seat airplane called the A350-1000 to compete with the 777.
Alexander Grant, manager of fleet planning at British Airways, told the ISTAT aircraft financing conference in Barcelona: ‘We have a major challenge ahead of us in terms of assessing the opportunities out there. All of those aircraft will be in a competition which we will be running later this year to really see what we can do.'
He did not indicate the volumes of any future order, although Bloomberg report that BA is looking to replace the 55 Boeing 747 aircraft in its fleet - 50 are in service, with 5 in storage. Some of the planes will be displaced by the arrival of 12 Airbus A380 superjumbos starting in 2013. BA also has 24 787-8s and -9s on order, although it has yet to agree delivery dates for the much delayed planes.
Mr Grant did not mention the 747-8 Intercontinental in his speech. This is the successor to the jumbo, which Boeing aims to get certified and into service by the end of this year. BA has orders for three freighter versions of this plane.
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