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Cathay Pacific rejigs A350 order and commits to A321neo
September 15th 2017
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways is to take fewer A350-1000s than it originally planned. Read More » In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this week, the airline said it had converted six of its 26 A350-1000 orders to the smaller -900 and deferred delivery of five of the remaining 20 -1000s on order by a year, to 2021.
Cathay had originally signed contracts with Airbus for 20 A350-900s and 26 A350-1000s. The conversion is estimated to save Cathay approximately HK$2.241 billion (US$288 million).
Last week, United Airlines converted an order for 35 A350-1000s to 45 -900s, a decision that increased the overall value of the deal but reduced the -1000 backlog to 171 orders.
Bloomberg reported this week that American Airlines is holding talks with Airbus about its twice-deferred 22 on-order A350-900s, originally ordered by US Airways in 2005. American president, Robert Isom, said the modest number of aircraft may be unsuitable for the airline. “I don’t like small fleets in an airline our size,” Isom told American pilots at a question-and-answer session. “It’s exceptional pricing. Unfortunately, pricing is just one aspect of trying to fly something profitably.”
In its filing on Wednesday, Cathay confirmed it had converted an August MoU for 32 A321neo into a firm order. Deliveries will run from 2020 to 2023. The aircraft will be operated by Cathay Dragon, the regional carrier of the group, on flights from its Hong Kong base to destinations across the region. The order has a listed value of HK$31.7 billion (US$4.05 billion).
The deal marks a significant expansion for Cathay Dragon. The 32 A321neo aircraft will replace and modernise the carrier’s current in-service fleet of 15 A320s and eight A321s, with the additional aircraft allowing the airline to grow in the region. Cathay Dragon serves 56 Asian destinations, including 28 in Mainland China.
Cathay Pacific Pacific CEO and Cathay Dragon chairman, Rupert Hogg, said: “The Airbus fleet has been serving Cathay Dragon well over the decades. With the A321neo we expect to benefit from a very significant increase in operating efficiency while increasing capacity in the Cathay Dragon network to expand our reach to more customers.”
