Boeing broke its order drought on the second day of the Paris Air Show with a commitment from Korean Air to purchase 10 new 787-10s and 10 additional 787-9 aircraft valued $US6.3 billion at current list prices.
The Korean carrier will also lease 10 787-10s from Air Lease Corporation as part of plans to add 30 new Dreamliners to its fleet.
Boeing said Korean would introduce the larger 787-10 to complement its long-haul fleet of 787-9 and 777 aircraft and the order would be reflected on the Boeing website once it was finalized.
READ: AirAsia unveils new dimension to long-haul low-cost flying.
It said the order would see Korea’s flag carrier quadruple its 787 fleet to 40 planes as it looked to strengthen its long-haul capability. The aircraft will be powered by GE’s GEnx engines.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates the strength of our enduring partnership with Korean Air,’’ Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Kevin McAllister said.
“The airline has been a pioneer in Asia’s commercial aviation industry over the past five decades and Boeing is honored to play an important role in their continued success.”
The US manufacturer later announced that Air Lease Corp. had committed to buy five 787-9s listing at $US1.5 billion.
But it was still playing catch-up to rival Airbus which announced low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific had signed a memorandum of understanding for 31 aircraft.
This comprised of 16 A330neos, 10 A321XLRs and five A320neos.
Cebu Pacific’s A330neo aircraft will be a higher capacity version of the A330-900, with 460 seats in a single-class configuration.
Airbus said the airline also becomes one of the launch airlines for the A321XLR, which will be able to fly nonstop from the Philippines to destinations as far afield as India and Australia.
Its A320neos would also be the first of the type to feature 194 seats in a single class layout, it said.
The European manufacturer also announced a Saudi deal for as many 65 additional A320neos.
It said Saudi Arabian Airlines had decided to expand its existing A320neo family order from 35 to as many as 100 neo aircraft, including 35 options.
The additional firm order takes SAUDIA’s order of A320neo family aircraft to 65, 15 of them A321XLRs.
