United orders new aircraft

[codash1099]

From Flight Global:

United splits aircraft order between Airbus and Boeing

 

[Flying Fox]

Nice work and congrats to both teams. I'm sure that United drove a very hard deal given their financial circumstances.

Now to get both birds flying!

 

[NYCguy]

About bloody time!

 

[lovestotravel]

I read that these are to replace 747's and 767's

Not sure that a 100+ seat loss is the way forward

 

[NYCguy]

By the time the aircraft deliveries start, the A350-1000 will probably be in production with about 350 pax in a typical 3-class layout, which compares favorably with UA's current 374-seat 744 layout. I imagine that it will be the Y cabin that has seat-numbers culled, rather than the high-yield premium cabins further forward.

The 787 is a more than adequate replacement for UA's international 767 fleet, and the -3 could even come in handy as a domestic 767/757 replacement...

Whatever happens, a fleet update is long overdue! UA's 744's are pretty ancient, as are the 767's, and it has some reasonably old 777's as well, having been the launch customer for the type.

As for the question "how will they pay for all this?", just remember - when you owe the banks a few hundreds of thousands of dollars, you're just document number, a potential liability. When you owe them hundreds of millions (or billions), you're their business partner.

 

[markis10]

Whatever happens, a fleet update is long overdue! UA's 744's are pretty ancient, as are the 767's, and it has some reasonably old 777's as well, having been the launch customer for the type.
.

United Fleet is not that bad when compared to other operators of the same aircraft type, for instance its 747 fleet is on average a year younger than Qantas, its 777 is the 4th youngest fleet in the world of all 47 operators of the 777 while its 767 fleet is two years younger than QF at 14.2 years average. Their 757 and 737 fleets stand out as being long in the tooth at 17 and 20 years respectively.

 

[NYCguy]

The last 737 was retired on October 28, the whole fleet having been replaced by A320's.

The other aircraft in the fleet may be relatively young, but with the new aircraft for delivery from 2016, they will be ready for their final flight to Victorville or Mojave (or to Air Gabon, et al.).

 

[Flying Fox]

I have heard from friends that their 747 hard product to AU is really bad with projector screens vs PTVs so I'm sure and update here would be most welcome.

Even if their frames are younger, hard product is much worse than QF.

 

[notzac]

Some additional commentary at crankyflier:
http://crankyflier.com/2009/12/09/united-shrinks-again-orders-787-and-a350-aircraft/

 

[lovestotravel]

I have not read that the orders were only for the A350-900 but that is what I assumed with my earlier post.

Seems that UA are going with the A350-900 which is the same plane as the 787 really.

 

[NYCguy]

I have not read that the orders were only for the A350-900 but that is what I assumed with my earlier post.

Seems that UA are going with the A350-900 which is the same plane as the 787 really.

It's a good few years until 2016, and with 50 options it seems unlikely that the entire fleet will be -900s. I could be wrong, of course...

 

[clifford]

The last 737 was retired on October 28, the whole fleet having been replaced by A320's.

The other aircraft in the fleet may be relatively young, but with the new aircraft for delivery from 2016, they will be ready for their final flight to Victorville or Mojave (or to Air Gabon, et al.).

Not to mention the A319's (which are what really replaced the 737's).

Doubt anything will be going to Mojave (I was there a couple of days ago to see the unveiling of Spaceship Two).

 

[NYCguy]

Not to mention the A319's (which are what really replaced the 737's).

Doubt anything will be going to Mojave (I was there a couple of days ago to see the unveiling of Spaceship Two).

Well, the 320 and the 319 are essentially the same thing, give or take a few rows of seats. The point was that the 737 fleet has been retired.

And here are some aircraft parked at Mojave. Perhaps you missed them during your visit?

 

[markis10]

The point was that the 737 fleet has been retired.

And here are some aircraft parked at Mojave. Perhaps you missed them during your visit?

And the point is the 737's remain part of the UA fleet until they are deregistered making their fleet look older than it is, when in fact UA's fleets in one of the youger ones in comparison to many other airlines, especially North American ones :shock:. BTW the last UA 737's are not at Mojave, they are at Victorville