Chicago-based United Airlines is getting closer to deciding what to do about its longstanding order for the Airbus A350. With the carrier saying it is to decide about Boeing 777 retirement by the end of 2025, even the company’s CEO, Scott Kirby, is talking about finalizing its plans for the European-built widebody.
United Airlines originally placed a firm order for 25 Airbus A350-900s in 2009. That commitment then changed to 35 A350-1000s in 2013, and later to 45 A350-900s in 2017. Despite these several deferrals, the type remains on United’s books but with first deliveries not expected until well into the 2030s.
Speaking with The Airline Observer, Kirby told journalist Brian Sumers that United is reconsidering its long-standing Airbus A350 order as part of a wider fleet renewal strategy. The comment came as Kirby framed international aviation as a “trade deficit” that Washington needed to address.
While the airline has delayed its Airbus A350-900 deliveries beyond 2030, Kirby has previously told staff at the company that, with aircraft manufacturers’ order books growing, a decision on replacing its aging Boeing 767 and 777s must come by the end of 2025. For years, industry observers had expected these A350 orders would be cancelled, particularly in light of United throwing its support behind the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, of which it still has over 140 examples of the twinjet on order.
However, with the carrier currently evaluating operating economics, politics, and pilot training costs against its backlog of Boeing 787 orders, Kirby stated that now could be the time to revisit the plans for the A350.
Additionally, with the retirement of its Boeing 757s and 767s fleets looming, replacing these aircraft will require pilot retraining regardless of which new type enters the fleet. Kirby mentioned that, as crew retraining costs are inevitable, it could make sense to introduce the A350 rather than indefinitely defer it to gain more benefit from those fleet decisions.
“By the time we get to the end of the decade, we will be well into retiring the 767. I’m reluctant to bring a new fleet type on, for all the cost and complexity reasons. But as we are retiring the 767 and 757, we’re going to have to retrain pilots. We’re going to have to go through a lot of that cycle anyway, and it’s a natural time to at least think about, we should now actually turn it into a real firm order instead of continuing to defer?
By the end of the current decade, United will have fully phased out its fleet of 53 767 aircraft. This, Kirby said, makes it a “natural time” to consider firming the Airbus order instead of further postponing it.
The airline is already undergoing a major fleet replacement and modernization plan. Currently, the carrier has commitments for 50 Airbus A321XLRs, which it is using as Boeing 757 replacements, leaving the 767 and 777-200 families as the next major aircraft group within the present fleet up for renewal.
The airline has 53 767s and 74 Boeing 777-200s in need of replacement. There are currently 101 other widebodies in the fleet, although the carrier is forecast ot need more widebodies than the current order for more Dreamliners to fully fund replacements and continue international growth.
Moreover, United also holds a Rolls-Royce engine deal signed eight years ago. Once seen as unfavorable, the agreement has become more attractive for the airline as inflation, supply chain issues, and rising travel demand have all changed since the pandemic.
While the company has pinned its future international expansion on the Boeing 787 for the time being, a decision will have to be made about the outstanding A350 order very soon, acknowledges Kirby. The A350, with its larger capacity and longer range that the 787 series could offer Unity slightly different mission profiles than the Dreamliner, making currently unserved international routes more attractive and feasible to the carrier.
If United does move forward with Airbus, industry observers believe the airline would likely balance it with additional orders for Boeing airplanes to maintain political and industrial support across the spectrum on both sides of the Atlantic.
