Following China Airlines’ confirmation of its options for eight Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, Boeing has welcomed its first purchase at the 2023 Paris Air Show. With the conversion of six of these orders, the Taiwanese carrier now has 24 Dreamliners on order, with the bigger 787-10 model.
Exercise of Dreamliner options by China Airlines
China Airlines has been identified as the source of the eight 787-9 orders that Boeing had previously listed as coming from an unnamed customer. The airline now has one of the newest and most effective widebody fleets in Asia, complementing the 16 787-9s that it acquired last year to replace its aging Airbus A330 aircraft. The Dreamliners are expected to join the airline “over the next several years” and will increase its capacity and flexibility on its local network. According to earlier projections, the first Dreamliner would arrive in 2025, and all aircraft would be delivered by 2028. The type will join China Airlines’ widebody passenger fleet of the 777-300ER, Airbus A350-900, and A330. The 787 can operate with up to 20% less fuel consumption and emissions than current-generation aircraft, allowing for cleaner and more effective operations.
Conversions from 787-10
China Airlines has actually switched six of its 787-9 orders to the bigger 787-10, as it had previously hinted at doing. In a two-class configuration, the 787-10 can accommodate up to 40 more people than the -9 model, although this greater capacity comes at the cost of about 1,200 nm of range. However, China Airlines said that demand for passengers has risen above pre-COVID levels, indicating that the extra capacity will probably be profitable on the airline’s busier routes. The carrier has been hard at work reviving its narrowbody fleet in addition to its medium-to-long-haul fleet with the arrival of the Airbus A321neo.
Demand for Dreamliners
Following a flurry of orders and pledges over the previous six months—more than 250, to be exact—the Dreamliner is now selling at the highest rate in the program’s history. This includes over 70 from the soon-to-launch Riyadh Air of Saudi Arabia and 20 from Air India; further orders are on the way, including one from Air Canada for up to 20 Dreamliners. After overcoming production hurdles that resulted in a 15-month delivery pause between 2021 and 2022, the program seems to have moved through its problems. A “nonconforming condition related to a fitting on the horizontal stabilizer” that was just discovered, however, will probably affect about 100 of the jet’s next deliveries. EVA Air, which runs both the 787-9 and 787-10, got its first Dreamliner back in September 2018. China Airlines will now be the second Taiwanese carrier to add the Dreamliner to its fleet.
