QANTAS finally commits to 787, Boeing set to deliver 13 787s by end of August

QANTAS 787-9

After years of struggling to return to profitability, Australian carrier, QANTAS, has returned to the black and has started ordering the 787.  Actually QANTAS had the 787-9 on order but cancelled an order for 35 aircraft in 2012 when their financial situation was bleak.  They retained the 787-8 order for Jetstar (14 aircraft) as well as retained the 20 options and 30 purchase rights at the time of the cancellation.  The purcahse rights have no production slots assigned to them whereas the options do.  QANTAS will exercise the options first as the expiration dates come due.

The carrier ordered 8 787-9, 3 of which are conversion of 3 Jetstar 787-8 to 787-9, and exercised 5 options.  The first four are to arrive between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018 while the second set of four will arrive between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019.  These 8 aircraft will replace 5 747-400.  QANTAS is not reducing overall fleet capacity but the use of the smaller 787-9 will give the airline more flexibility to down-gauge routes that are currently using the 747-400.  Jetstar's 11th 787 is already on the flightline and should be delivered next month.

QANTAS still retains 15 options and 30 rights for any model 787, thus I do see that the 787-10 can very well be in QANTAS' future.  The replacement strategy seems to be to only exercise the rights/options just before they are about to expire thus taking advantage of long term fleet and route planning at QANTAS as they replace the 747s.

ANA 787-9 ZB411 (LN329, JA872A)

In other 787 news, Boeing is looking to deliver 13 total 787s in August (I was predicting 15 earlier but 2 were pushed to early September).  3 aircraft (one each for ANA (787-9), CIT/Aeromexico (787-8), and Air New Zealand (787-9) have had their customer flights and should be delivered in the next week.  Air New Zealand will be receiving ZB001, the first 787-9 produced, after the aircraft had undergone a complete refurbishment at the conclusion of the 787-9 test program.  5 more 787s are awaiting their customer flights including one each for Air Canada (787-9), American Airlines (787-8), Scoot (787-8), United Airlines (787-9) and Vietnam Airlines (787-9).  If all the deliveries are made this month, Boeing would have delivered 13 in August, 89 through the first 8 months of 2015 and 317 since program deliveries began almost 4 years ago.

Lastly, ZB412 (LN345, JA873A) otherwise known as the "Star Wars" jet has been completed.  According to plans, this aircraft should have it's first flight on August 26th and then flown to Everett on August 31st where it will be painted in the special Star Wars scheme.  There is to be a special ceremony at the Future of Flight by ANA (I wonder if any of the cast of the new Star Wars movie will be there) around September 12th/13th.  The airplane will return to Charleston on September 14th to continue delivery preparations which should take place around September 29th.  The aircraft will be pressed into ANA service around October 16th.

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