China Airlines will make a U.S. pivot in its fleet plans by ordering 16 Boeing 787-9 aircraft (plus options for another eight and conversion rights to the 787-10 variant) to replace its Airbus A330-300s, with deliveries starting from 2025, according to an announcement Tuesday by the Taiwanese state carrier that moves forward on a modernization program that had begun in 2018 but was put on hold due to the pandemic.
The deal, valued at up to USD 4.6 billion considering list prices, comes just weeks after the controversial visit by Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, despite protests by the People’s Republic of China, which claims Taiwan as its own.
But, according to sources quoted by Reuters, Boeing «had been at pains to avoid using her visit to actively lobby for a 787 deal».
China Airlines has 22 Airbus A330-300s in its fleet, four of which are in storage according to information obtained by Aviacionline through the CH-Aviation database. The average age of these aircraft is 14.5 years, almost double that of the rest of its fleet, which stands at 8.3 years.
China Airlines’ widebody fleet also consists of 14 Airbus A350-900s and 10 Boeing 777-300ERs, in addition to 18 Boeing 747-400Fs and 4 B777-200Fs, the latter two freighters.
Based on Cirium data, its A330s are mainly used to destinations up to 2,500/3,000 km away in South East Asia, accounting for about 30% of the total seat capacity offered by the airline (and only 12% in ASK).
