ANA to buy 14 new Boeings

From CNN.com/Asia

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) — All Nippon Airways (ANA) has confirmed it is buying 14 new passenger jets from Boeing in an order worth around $1.5 billion.

ANA is Japan’s biggest domestic carrier, with about 46 million passengers a year. It lags Japan Airlines (JAL) in international passengers.

A spokesman for ANA confirmed the order to CNN and said the airline had signed on Tuesday at a ceremony with Boeing at the Farnborough Air Show near London.

The 14 aircraft are nine B767-300ERs and five long-range B777-300s. ANA said it is paying 170 billion yen ($1.46 billion).

ANA already has 53 B767s and 21 B777s in its fleet. The new aircraft will replace some of the older model B767-200s and some Airbus aircraft.

ANA said the new aircraft will be delivered between April 2004 and March 2007.

It said it also planned to retire its entire fleet of eight B747-100s, two B747-200s (LR), eight B767-200s and seven A321s by March 2007 to make way for newer aircraft.

ANA chief executive Yoji Ohashi said earlier this year the airline would build its fleet strategy around the B777.

ANA is upgrading its fleet as it faces increased competition from the JAL-JAS combination
ANA is upgrading its domestic fleet ahead of increased competition after Japan Airlines buys third-ranked Japan Air System (JAS). The two are due to begin merging in October.

ENDS.

On the merger issue, it will be a shame to see those lovely JAS colours go.

Regards,
Carl