Boeing To Supply 777 Freighters to Qatar Airways
Aircraft giant Boeing has inked major freighter and passenger aircraft deals with a pair of international air carriers valued at almost $4 billion. The Seattle-based company and Qatar Airways have finalized an order for four 777 Freighters, valued at $1.24. The Middle Eastern carrier also has purchase rights for four additional airplanes, which when completed will bring the combined value of the contract to $2.46 billion.
Qatar Airways first announced its intention to order the four twin-engine 777 Freighters at the 2014 Farnborough Airshow in England. The carrier currently operates a fleet of 37 Boeing 777-300ERs (Extended Range) and 777-200LRs (Longer Range) aircraft, in addition to seven 777 Freighters. The 777 Freighter is capable of flying 4,900 nautical miles with a full payload, making it the world’s longest-range twin-engine freighter.
Within days of the Qatar Airways deal being finalized, All Nippon Airways (ANA) said it would acquire three Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners valued at approximately $1.4 billion “to add additional flexibility to the airline’s 787 fleet.” The purchase makes ANA the first airline in Asia to operate the entire family of 787 Dreamliners.
To date, ANA has taken more 787 deliveries than any other customer with 34, and 46 still on order. Once in service, Boeing says the 787-10 “will be 25 to 30 percent more efficient than airplanes of its size today and more than 10 percent better than anything offered by the competition for the future. In addition to the 787s, the Japanese carrier placed an order for five narrow-bodied “Next-Generation” 737-800s, the latest version of its workhorse 737 passenger aircraft that first went into service with Lufthansa in 1965.
Boeing’s 787-800 series features increased passenger capacity, greater range, a reconfigured cockpit and upgraded engines; the company has booked more than 6,800 orders for the upgraded aircraft from customers worldwide.
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