Two Saudi Arabian airlines announced plans on Tuesday to order a combined 78 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, a big win for Boeing that marks the fifth largest commercial order by value in its history.
State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and new national airline Riyadh Air will each buy 39 wide-body 787s from the U.S.-based planemaker.
The deal contains options for 10 additional Dreamliners for Saudia and 33 for Riyadh Air. Reuters reported details of the planned order on Monday, citing sources.
The list prices for 78 planes would total nearly $37 billion, Reuters previously reported.
Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said the order showed the huge demand for wide-body airplanes around the world as tourism continues to rebound, and is the latest in a series of big 787 orders.
"It's like the biggest I've ever seen," Calhoun said of 787 demand. "The world wants to connect in this post-COVID moment."
Calhoun said the planemaker was standing by its 787 production guidance announced in November, which calls for Boeing to ramp up to 10 787s by the 2025-2026 timeframe.
All customers, "specifically Riyadh Air, are all built into that schedule", Calhoun said. "We have a lot of confidence that we can meet it and that was an important part of this deal."
The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday approved Boeing's plan to resume deliveries of the 787. Boeing shares were up 3.6% in early trading.
The company's clean sweep of the lucrative wide-body order is a blow for European rival Airbus which as recently as late last year had been expected to secure at least part of the deal. Saudia currently operates both Airbus and Boeing jets.
Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at AeroDynamic Advisories, said Boeing’s success in capturing the entire order could partially be due to "a greater U.S. presence in the region -- politically, diplomatically, economically".
He added however that "it's also quite likely that the 787 is just closer to their requirements right now".
In particular, the 787 allows for a more flexible route network, as it’s smaller than the A350 but with equivalent range. "That’s probably a big factor in it," Aboulafia said.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced on Sunday the creation of new national airline Riyadh Air, with industry veteran Tony Douglas as its chief executive, as the kingdom moves to compete with regional travel hubs.
"We've got a blank sheet of paper," Douglas told Reuters on Tuesday.
Riyadh Air is wholly owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has more than $600 billion in assets and is the main driver of the kingdom's efforts to wean itself off oil.
The airline will serve more than 100 destinations around the world by 2030 and will directly compete against Emirates and Qatar Airways.
Southwest Airlines Co is tapping a software company called SureWeather, which rival United Airlines employs, to make its winter operations more resilient, Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Dallas-based carrier has been under fire
ever since it suffered an operational disruption that resulted in almost
17,000 flight cancellations around the Christmas holiday last year,
disrupting travel plans for two million customers.
SureWeather helps airlines calculate the time between de-icing of an aircraft and its take-off.
Watterson said the software helped United recover, particularly in Denver, from a winter storm in December last year.
"We are contracting with them right now. So, by next winter weather we will have that tool," he said in an interview.
The airline has developed a three-part plan with inputs from aviation consultancy Oliver Wyman, which was hired to investigate the disruption, to bolster its operations during the winter season.
Watterson said Oliver Wyman has wrapped up its investigation and the company is working on some additional measures, which are expected to be completed by the end of this month.
On Sunday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced Saudi Arabia will launch a new state-run airline called Riyadh Air, and The Wall Street Journal reported the carrier will likely purchase a large order of Boeing jets.
The Middle Eastern nation already has another government-run airline – Saudia, which was founded in 1945 and travels to over 90 destinations across Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America. And it's not entirely clear why it needs a second, but party on! The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund says the new carrier is a way to diversify the nation's economy beyond its robust oil industry and enable "Riyadh to become a gateway to the world and a global destination for transportation, trade, and tourism."
For months, Boeing and Airbus have been competing for a deal with the Middle Eastern nation, the WSJ reported. But now it looks like the Saudi PIF has finally made a decision:
Why Can't We Be Friends: If the deal with the US-based plane maker materializes, it'd be another signifier of easing tensions between America and Saudi Arabia. In January, the Biden administration announced they were no longer pursuing plans to retaliate against Saudi Arabia for cutting its oil production by 2 million barrels per day. Plus, the Saudis are now looking to ease tensions and reopen communications with Iran, after a round of peace talks orchestrated by China.
(The Motley Fool)
(Photo by Michael Carter / Aero Pacific Images)
Captured on short final to Rwy 30 at Long Beach Airport (LGB/KLGB) March 18, 2021.
Taxies to then turns onto Rwy 30 at Long Beach Airport (LGB/KLGB)
as it prepares to depart to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport
(OPF/KOPF) February 6, 2023.
Rolls onto Rwy 30 at Long Beach Airport (LGB/KLGB) as "WN2359" bound for Sacramento International Airport (SMF/KSMF) on February 13, 2022 on a lovely SoCal winter morning.
Operated by Maui Jim Inc., this lovely aircraft is captured on short final to Rwy 30
at Long Beach Airport (LGB/KLGB) as it arrives from Reno / Tahoe
International Airport (RNO/KRNO) Reno, Nevada this morning (August 19,
2022) for a visit to the Gulfstream service center.
(Photo by Michael Carter / Aero Pacific Images)
Rolls for takeoff on Rwy 30 at Long Beach Airport (LGB/KLGB) on August 18, 2022 following a visit to the Gulfstream Service Center.
Boeing has cleared a key hurdle with federal regulators and could soon resume deliveries of its large 787 airliner, which has been plagued by a series of production issues since late 2020, a person familiar with the matter said Saturday.
The Federal Aviation Administration notified Boeing on Friday that it would approve the company’s process for validating fixes to each plane before they are delivered to airline customers, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that has not been publicly announced.
The FAA declined to comment and referred inquiries to Boeing. In a statement, Boeing said only, “We will continue to work transparently with the FAA and our customers towards resuming 787 deliveries.”
Approval to resume deliveries would be a boost for Boeing, which collects a big chunk of each plane’s purchase price at delivery. Boeing has accumulated a backlog of about 120 undelivered 787s. The plane, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner, lists at $248 million to $338 million depending on size, although airlines pay far less than sticker price.
Issues with the 787 started in 2020 when small gaps were found between panels of the fuselage that are made of carbon composite material. That prompted inspections that turned up problems with a pressurization bulkhead at the front of the plane.
Boeing also had to replace titanium parts including fasteners after it was discovered that the Italian supplier used alloys that did not meet FAA standards.
Boeing has maintained that none of the issues raised immediate safety concerns.
It is not clear how long it will take Boeing to deliver all 120 backlogged planes, which were built at factories in Washington state and South Carolina. Each one will need to be cleared by the FAA.
American Airlines expects to get its first two 787s “in early August” but isn’t including them in the schedule until November, the airline’s chief financial officer, Derek Kerr, said last week on a call to discuss quarterly earnings.
(Associated Press)
A Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta blew two tires Tuesday while landing at Los Angeles International Airport but nobody on board was hurt, although two runways at the busy airport were closed for several hours, authorities said.
Delta Flight 515 landed safely shortly after 1 p.m., authorities said.
Boeing 737-932(ER)(WL) (31933/4947) N822DN “came to rest on the taxi way after a possible issue with some of its tires," Delta said in a statement. It didn't indicate what caused the problem.
Photos on Twitter showed two shredded tires.
“We touchdown (maybe a little fast) when all of a sudden POW BAM right landing gear fumbles the bag and we pop 2 tires on the right,” Sara Margarett said in tweets. “Everyone freaks out and we skidded to a stop somewhere between hell and a runway.”
Margarett said they were kept on the plane for an hour before being bused to the terminal.
Two runways were closed for several hours until the plane was removed from a runway.
(Associated Press)
(Photo by Michael Carter / Aero Pacific Images)
Operated by NXT Jet, this lovely Gulfy is captured rolling for takeoff on Rwy 30 at Long Beach Airport (LGB/KLGB) as "KPO2" destined for Philadelphia International Airport (PHL/KPHL) on June 24, 2022.
