Cathay Pacific Plans Airbus Or Boeing Wide Body Aircraft Order

Cathay Pacific Plans Airbus Or Boeing Wide Body Aircraft Order

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It looks like Cathay Pacific is going on another aircraft shopping spree, as the oneworld carrier plans for its long term future.

Cathay Pacific considers Airbus A350, Boeing 787

Danny Lee at Bloomberg reports on how Cathay Pacific has submitted a request for proposal (RFP) with Airbus and Boeing, as it looks to place a multi-billion dollar aircraft order. Specifically, the Hong Kong-based airline is looking for aircraft that would be delivered in the 2030s, so this is a long term aircraft order.

Cathay Pacific is reportedly interested in either picking up more Airbus A350s, ordering Boeing 787s for the first time, or even adding to its Boeing 777 order book, though that jet is yet to be certified. Both Airbus and Boeing have most of their delivery slots taken up through the end of this decade, so it’s important for Cathay Pacific to place an order ASAP.

It’s not known exactly how many jets Cathay Pacific is looking to order. It’s probably not a huge number of firm orders (I mean, at least compared to carriers like Emirates or Riyadh Air), but there may also be a fair number of options.

While Cathay Pacific had a really tough time at the start of the pandemic, the situation has improved considerably, and the company now has excellent financial performance again. Furthermore, with Hong Kong’s three runway system operational, there’s lots of room to grow.

Cathay Pacific wants to order more wide body aircraft

What wide body jet makes sense for Cathay Pacific?

For some context on Cathay Pacific’s fleet, the airline currently has the following jets:

  • 16 Airbus A321neos, used for regional routes
  • 43 Airbus A330-300s, used primarily for regional routes, but also for some medium haul flights
  • 52 Boeing 777s, most of which are long haul 777-300ERs, but there are also some regional 777-300s
  • 48 Airbus A350s, split between the A350-900 and A350-1000 variant

Beyond that, Cathay Pacific also has the following aircraft on order:

So prior to this upcoming order, it seems like Cathay Pacific’s long term plan is to primarily fly A321neos, A330-900neos, A350s (-900s and -1000s), and 777-9s.

How do I see this playing out? Here are a few thoughts:

  • In terms of fleet commonality, it would of course make sense to order more Airbus A350s and/or Boeing 777Xs, so that not yet another aircraft type is added to the fleet
  • In terms of regional capacity, it seems like the plan is for the 40 A321neos and 30 A330-900neos to essentially replace the 43 A330-300s and 16 777-300s; however, there’s still a significant capacity gap there, especially with some of the A321neos going to HK Express
  • Assuming Cathay Pacific has faith in the 777X eventually flying, it sure seems like the airline could use more than 21 of those aircraft, since that plane could easily be used to most major long haul gateways
  • The A350 is a phenomenal plane, so picking up more of those seems like a no-brainer

So we’ll see how this plays out. The 787 doesn’t make much sense to me at all, unless Boeing offers Cathay Pacific a killer deal. Then again, I’m not sure Boeing would even do that, since there’s plenty of demand for the 787, and it’s the 777X that’s not selling as well.

More Boeing 777Xs could make sense for Cathay Pacific

Bottom line

Cathay Pacific has approached both Airbus and Boeing, as the airline hopes to place another wide body aircraft order, with deliveries in the 2030s. Cathay Pacific is reportedly deciding between the A350, 787, and 777X.

There are a lot of factors that impact which planes airlines ultimately end up ordering, though logically speaking, the complexity of adding the 787 to the fleet doesn’t make much sense to me (which isn’t to say it won’t happen, as plenty of airlines do just that). Meanwhile I think ordering more 777Xs would be logical, especially as Hong Kong’s capacity keeps increasing. Furthermore, more A350s never hurt anyone, right? 😉

What do you expect to see from Cathay Pacific’s upcoming aircraft order?

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  1. Bob Guest

    "Cathay considers Airbus or Boeing for widebody"

    Great headline there. Really going out on limb. Folks at COMAC and United Aircraft Corporation must be inconsolable at the loss of the possible Cathay order.

  2. Jordan Diamond

    The 777 will probably not get certified before 2030 (if ever)... they might as well go with the A350....since they are working well for them.

    A heavily tweaked 35-year base design of the 777 has already taken 6 years to certify, and it's still struggling. I've lost track of the issues, but I was done at door blow out and wing snap. The wing threshold was beyond their requirement, true, but they still set a...

    The 777 will probably not get certified before 2030 (if ever)... they might as well go with the A350....since they are working well for them.

    A heavily tweaked 35-year base design of the 777 has already taken 6 years to certify, and it's still struggling. I've lost track of the issues, but I was done at door blow out and wing snap. The wing threshold was beyond their requirement, true, but they still set a benchmark that the wing failed to reach....so I'm not thrilled to ride on this plane.

    Is there a reason for its failure to certify (beyond greed)? Oh yes, absolutely. Is it worth discussing here? No, sorry. Historically I have loved Boeing planes (minus 737s) so this is really sad to see.

    1 more reply
  3. Mike O. Guest

    While I would like to see some 787s for more variety (especially the 78Xs to replace the aging 773As), a top-up order for their existing fleet is more likely. But I still believe it’s possible for them to acquire 78Xs.

    If they do acquire more A350s, it’ll likely be delivered with a new cabin while current A350s get retrofitted to match later on.

    If they don’t get 787s, the 77W can still serve them well...

    While I would like to see some 787s for more variety (especially the 78Xs to replace the aging 773As), a top-up order for their existing fleet is more likely. But I still believe it’s possible for them to acquire 78Xs.

    If they do acquire more A350s, it’ll likely be delivered with a new cabin while current A350s get retrofitted to match later on.

    If they don’t get 787s, the 77W can still serve them well into the '40s to even early '50s, as their youngest frames are from the mid ‘10s. It’ll be much easier to reduce the TOW and rip out the crew rests rather than having to acquire a new type, get new sims, and get the crew and engineers up to speed. 

    But it’s still my belief they can make the 787s work.

    And I see them getting some 778Fs to eventually replace their 748Fs, but that's still far out. Their current A350F order would replace their ERFs, which would be ripe for retirement once they start coming in.

    1 more reply
  4. LOA Member

    777X not selling well? It has a good chunk of orders, more than the A350-1000!

    1. Pete Guest

      And who knows, the 779 might actually enter commerical service one of these years if Boeing can get its act together. It seems like a big ask, though.

  5. SN Guest

    I’m sorry, but this is clearly just China getting ready for bargaining with Trump.

    It’s sort of blatant…

    4 more replies
  6. Nasir Guest

    Cathay should order more A350-1000s.

    1 more reply
Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

David Diamond

Cathay is controlled by a UK company, but don't let facts get in the way of your conspiracy theories...

2
ConcordeBoy Diamond

Mainland's CAAC and Hong Kong's CAD operate separately. Nothing to do with China nor Trump.

2
Nasir Guest

Cathay should order more A350-1000s.

2
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