2023-10-04 05:51:00
Giant repeat orders for United Airlines. After having ordered 270 planes in 2021 and 200 in 2022, the American airline continues the accelerated renewal of its fleet with the announcement, during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday (French time), of two new contracts signed with Airbus and Boeing for a total of 110 aircraft, with options for 90 aircraft. The Chicago carrier has ordered half long-haul aircraft, the other half medium-haul (providing shorter flights of up to 5 hours). For long-haul, United has once again chosen the B787 and committed to 50 B-787-9 “Dreamliners”, which will be delivered between 2028 and 2031. At the end of 2022, United Airlines had committed to no less of 100 firm examples of 787 “Dreamliner”, with options for 100 more aircraft.
An order amounting to 42 billion dollars with options
For medium-haul aircraft, the company has chosen the Airbus A321 Neo. Delivery of the 60 aircraft is scheduled to take place from 2028 to 2030. During its last order in 2022, United chose the Boeing 737 MAX, but chose the A321 NEO in 2021 (70 aircraft), an order which added to that passed in 2019 for 50 A321 XLRs.
At list price, the two firm orders announced last night exceed $22 billion and rise to more than $42 billion with options. A price that companies that benefit from discounts never pay, some of which can easily exceed 50%.
“We are building a bright future for United and this order takes our already successful business plan into the next decade and beyond,” said Scott Kirby, CEO of the company, quoted in the press release.
“I am confident that our strategy is the right one as we continue to add new, larger devices to take full advantage of the growing opportunities both internationally and domestically,” he said. .
In total, the third American company will receive the delivery of nearly 800 aircraft between 2023 and 2032. Almost the equivalent of its current fleet, the third largest on the planet, behind Delta and American. At that time, United’s fleet should consist of 75% new generation aircraft, the company assures.
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Difficulties for aircraft manufacturers to keep pace
United Airlines justifies these purchases by traffic growth, the need to renew its fleet but also by the difficulties of aircraft manufacturers. “Normally, we wouldn’t order this far in advance,” noted Andrew Nocella, the airline’s commercial director, during an audio conference with journalists. But “production lines are now regularly blocked by problems in the supply chain and delivery delays are increasing steadily until the end of the decade,” he added, specifying that the devices ordered in 2021 would “undoubtedly suffer significant delays”.
Therefore, to be sure of having the necessary aircraft when it needs them, the company has already activated purchase options in 2021 and 2022.
At that time, “the sector was suffering from the scourge of the pandemic which allowed United to secure the best possible contractual conditions,” noted Andrew Nocella.
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