Boeing and Japan Airlines Confirm Order for Six 767-300ERs

(Source: Boeing Co.; issued June 30, 2005)

SEATTLE — The Boeing Company and Japan Airlines (JAL) today confirmed an order by JAL for six new Boeing 767-300ER airplanes, valued at approximately $800 million at list prices.

The airline will receive three freighters and three passenger models. Deliveries will begin in 2007 and run through early 2008. It is the first time JAL has ordered the 767-300ER Freighter.

“Boeing and Japan Airlines have a very special relationship, based on long-time mutual knowledge and trust,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes Vice President of Sales Larry Dickenson. “These 767 models provide excellent efficiency and reliability for JAL’s regional routes. We are proud to be JAL’s partner.”

General Electric CF6-80C2 high-bypass turbofan engines will power the new airplanes. With this order, Japan Airlines’ 767 commitments total 46 airplanes.

The 767 offers superior reliability and low operating cost per trip. Boeing has delivered 930 767s that are flown by more than 100 operators worldwide. The 767 family has accumulated more than 10 million flights and carried millions of passengers.

The 767 Freighter is the only 60-ton freighter with international capability and can accommodate a combined maximum payload capability of 16,034 feet 3 (454 cu m). At its 60.5-ton (54.88 metric ton) maximum payload, the 767 Freighter has a range of 3,270 nautical miles (6,056 km). When carrying 50 tons (45.4 metric tons), the 767 Freighter has a range of 4,255 nautical miles (7,880 km).

As of June 1, 2005, JAL serves 208 airports in 35 countries with approximately 28 0 airplanes, including Boeing 747, 777, 767 and 737 models.

JAL has also ordered 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 30 Next-Generation 737-800 passenger airplanes.

U.S. Airways said last month it had struck a deal to become the launch customer for the A350 in return for a $250 million loan from Airbus. The order is subject to the completion of its planned merger with America West Holdings Corp.

Airbus details A380’s production issues

Flight International
21-June-05

Airbus expects it will take “a couple of years” to eliminate the backlog of delays to A380 deliveries as it clarifies the reasons behind last month’s decision to push back the production schedule for the ultra-large aircraft by up to six months.

Confirming that deliveries have slipped by “between two and six months”, Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard blames the delay on the programme’s “very tight” schedule: “We knew full well that this would be hard to match…maybe we’ve been a little bold in making public our internal target without buffers,” he says.

The delay varies, “depending on the individual situation of each customer, who we are in the process of informing”, says Forgeard, adding: “The objective remains to deliver the first aircraft to launch operator Singapore Airlines in the latter part of 2006.”

Airbus chief operating officer Gustav Humbert says that “the first couple of years of deliveries will be impacted” and attributes the delay to two main problems – the weight-saving effort and electrical wiring. “We had a major weight-watcher programme, which meant that we had to reconstruct some parts of the structure,” he says, adding that this effort has been completed and “fully achieved its target”.

Humbert says that there are “more varieties of cable looms and systems as customers have specified more complex cabins than anticipated. This will be under control in the next two months as we now have the definitions of the first customers.”

He adds that the problems are not related to any specific “country or a team” within the Airbus organisation.

Boeing nears derivative decisions

US manufacturer close to launching 747 Advanced and 737-900X, and is set to save 747-400 freighter

Flight International
21-June-05

Boeing is closing on launch decisions on two new airliner derivatives within the next few months amid mounting signs that sufficient launch customers are now lined up for both the 747 Advanced and long-awaited 737-900X.

“We have a team working on [747] Advanced and they are hugging our customers to sell them the business case,” says Boeing chairman Lew Platt. “The team is really enthused. The reception [in the market] has been very good. The business case is not as tough as the 787 or [Airbus] A380. I fully expect [a decision] in the next few months and maybe as early as the end of this month.”

Boeing vice-president sales Scott Carson adds that customer interest is also shifting in favour of the passenger variant, rather than the freighter as previously seen. “Much of the early interest was in the freighter, but now the majority of the interest is among airlines,” he says. The potential 747 Advanced customers include some airlines that have already ordered the A380 as well as some that want to “move up in scale without taking on the risk of the A380”, he adds.

In addition to growing signs of launch customers for the Advanced, Boeing is seeing equally important indications of renewed interest in the current 747-400, particularly the freighter. As a result the company says it will not call a halt to the programme in the near term as previously threatened.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Alan Mulally says: “We thought we might announce the conclusion of production at the end of this year and that’s not going to be the case because the demand for the 747-400 is increasing. We don’t anticipate any announcement this year on stopping the 747 and that gives us another option because it gives us time to bridge to the 747 Advanced,” says Mulally, who adds that entry into service would be either late 2008 or early 2009.

Funny they would make an announcement like that, but not give a reason…not matter how ambiguous.

I know the articles that were posted regarding the Indigo order said 100 ‘commitments’, but did we ever get official confirmation that the order was indeed 100 “firm orders” and not more like “orders including options”… :confused: