United Airlines is in talks with Airbus about buying A350-1000 aircraft, a step toward the first U.S. purchase for Airbus´ largest twin-engine model, people familiar with talks said to Blommberg.
The world’s biggest airline is considering the 350-seat plane to replace older Boeing 747s, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. United already agreed to buy #25 A350-900 variant under a 2009 deal that included another #25 787 Dreamliners with deliveries scheduled from 2016 to 2019. And options for additional #50 aircraft from each manufacturer. These #50 options for A350 XWB are what United is considering to be A350-1000.
A United order would help Airbus that had suffered cancellations and a 4- year A350-1000 order drought until July/2012 when Cathay added #26 to its fleet at Farnborough airshow. United – with a 22% of the fleet with A320 and 54% of the orders- said it’s also looking at what Boeing will offer as a successor to its 777.
“This would be a big wake-up call for Boeing,” said Richard Aboulafia consultant of Teal Group. “There’s a big market emerging for the next-generation of the 777-300ER, and so far, Airbus is the only manufacturer with a firmly-launched new product.”
A competition with Boeing would depend partly on how soon Airbus can free up delivery slots for the A350-1000 and how fast Boeing can develop the jet dubbed the 777-X, said two of the people. The A350-1000’s list price is $320.6 million, while a 777-X probably would command more than the 777-300ER’s $315 million.
Airbus declined to comment, saying discussions with potential buyers are private.
Based on the article “United Said to Study Biggest Airbus A350 to Replace 747s” published in Bloomberg
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