Airbus Fails To Break Seattle's Near-Monopoly In Japan
Japan Airlines has
announced that its fleet will remain all-Boeing, as it broke news
that it had signed on the dotted line to purchase thirty 737's,
with options on ten more, on top of the thirty 787 Dreamliners it
has already said it will buy.
The news was a bitter pill for Airbus to swallow, as it had
tried very hard to get JAL to diversify its fleet and purchase
their aircraft instead of the 737's. With the decision to purchase
the 737's, the European manufacturer is effectively once again shut
out of the major Japanese market.
The JAL order is worth
$1.92 billion at list prices, but as usual, good customers get good
discounts, and no one expects JAL to pay list. Deliveries will
begin in 2006. Both JAL and All Nippon Airways are consolidating
their fleets under the Boeing flag and continue to phase out their
older Airbus aircraft. ANA has already ordered a total of fifty 787
Dreamliners, and is the region's launch customer for the
aircraft.
JAL has in fact never ordered an Airbus aircraft -- the ones
it owns came into the fleet when it acquired Japan Air
Systems, which owned 22 Airbus A300-600's, which it intends to
replace with 787's.
Libya's Buraq Air has also announced that it will purchase three
737-800 aircraft, with options for three more. This order is one of
the first since the United States lifted sanctions against the
country in 2004. The airline, based out of Tripoli, told the
Associated Press that it plans to use the aircraft as part of its
strategy to become a leader in regional commercial aviation.
Topping off the list of
Boeing successes this week, Ethiopian Airlines has announced that
it will also purchase the 787 Dreamliner. It intends to bolster its
international fleet with ten of the new aircraft -- five firm
orders with options for five more -- and it is the first airline in
Africa to announce that it will purchase the 787.
“You just can’t ignore how far Boeing has advanced
the technology of commercial aviation with the 787
Dreamliner,” said Ethiopian Airlines CEO Ato Girma Wake to
the Associated Press. “The 787 represents the
future—one in which Ethiopian Airlines will play a major
part—and we view this airplane to be a cutting-edge solution
to bolster our passenger service, improve our efficiencies and add
to the airline’s bottom line.”
In total, Boeing's order book now holds 191 firm orders and
options from 15 airlines for the Dreamliner.
“Airlines all over the world are embracing the 787 because
it provides what passengers really want: convenient, comfortable
and affordable nonstop flights that take them where they want to
go, when they want to go there. The 787’s advantages for
passengers and airlines are unmatched by any airplane offered in
the market today or in the foreseeable future,” said Boeing
Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Alan Mulally. “We are
proud of Ethiopian Airlines’ pioneering spirit and we share
its goal of maintaining innovative leadership in commercial
aviation”
As a member of the 787 launch customer team, Ethiopian Airlines
becomes a key partner in developing the 787 family of
airplanes.
Boeing’s partnership with Ethiopian Airlines dates back
some 50 years. Ethiopian Airlines has long played a leading role in
the development of commercial aviation on the African continent.
Among its many firsts, the carrier initiated jet service there when
it added a Boeing 720B in 1963.
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