United Airlines orders 200 planes from Boeing

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United Airlines said Tuesday that it is ordering 100 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 100 737 MAX, an important order as the carrier seeks post-pandemic growth and replaces older, less efficient aircraft.

The Chicago-based company’s order for 200 planes, at list prices of about $43 billion, is a big boost for the American manufacturer, which has faced production and political problems with both aircraft this year.

United said Tuesday it is also exercising options to buy 44 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for delivery between 2024 and 2026, it has ordered an additional 56 MAX for delivery between 2027 and 2028 and now has 443 MAXs on order.

United’s big bet on the 787s reflects expectations of continued growth in demand for long-haul international travel and its desire to replace older aircraft. Boeing said it was its largest order for Dreamliners and United said it was the largest widebody order ever placed by a US airline.

United also said it will delay its previously announced order of 45 Airbus A350s to 2030 “at the earliest”. United Chief Executive Scott Kirby said a key factor in the decision between Boeing and Airbus for its main widebody order was its current fleet of 787s.

“When we’re trying to bring in 2,500 pilots a year and grow the company, introducing a new fleet type cuts that down dramatically,” Kirby said.

United hired 15,000 new employees in 2022, including 2,400 pilots, and is on track to hire 15,000 in 2023, including another 2,500 pilots.

United said it expects to take deliveries of the 787 between 2024 and 2032 and can choose between the 787-8, 9 or 10 models. United will buy 787s to replace its entire 767 fleet by 2030 and select 777s, reducing carbon emissions per seat by around 25% for new planes.

The commercial director of the airline, Andrew Nocella, said that the order will allow the replacement of older planes with new models that are more economical, with more premium seats, that carry more cargo and fly faster: “We make more money”, said Nocella about the new planes.

United said its capital spending budget for 2023 is $9 billion and $11 billion for 2024, with most of it going towards new aircraft.

United plans to unveil the order at an event Tuesday at Boeing’s South Carolina plant, with Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal, who said in a statement that the orders “will help United accelerate the modernization of its fleet and global growth strategy”.

Both the MAX and the 787 have faced problems this year.

In August, Boeing finally resumed deliveries of the 787 after production issues forced it to suspend deliveries in May 2021. The Federal Aviation Administration in July approved Boeing’s inspection and modernization plan needed to meet certification and is inspecting each aircraft prior to delivery.

Last week, Boeing suffered a setback when the US Congress refused to extend an impending deadline imposing new safety standards for the MAX 7 and MAX 10 variants. United said 80 of the 100 new MAX planes it is ordering will be MAX 10.

Boeing has been lobbying for months to convince lawmakers to waive the deadline affecting its MAX 7 and MAX 10 planes and was imposed by Congress in 2020 after two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

On the extension, Kirby said he was “pretty sure it will be done in the next Congress” because “it was the right safety outcome,” but reiterated that United could switch to other MAX variants or buy more Airbus planes if lawmakers don’t. agree.

In June 2021, United announced its largest order yet, for 270 Boeing and Airbus jets, including 200 Boeing 737 MAX and 70 Airbus A321neo, as part of its “United Next” growth plan. The company said on Tuesday that it will not make changes to the order for the A321neo.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves

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