Exciting: Cathay Pacific Boeing 777X Order Bumped To 35 Jets

It's been a while since their last Boeing or GE order, so it's good to see, even if it's merely a top-up. I can also see a 778F order eventually when the 748Fs are ripe for retirement,

I anticipate a top-up A350 order in the next couple of months as they can certainly use more.

I just wonder what new routes with first class will open up or at least return. If you put together routes now, pre-COVID and mid 2000s-late 2010s on either the 744, A340, or 77W, you had JFK, Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Haneda, Heathrow, Paris, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Milan, Rome(?), Frankfurt, Sydney, Melbourne(?), Auckland, Johannesburg, Zurich. So quite hefty amount.

Excellent news for Boeing and America, and with no a380 production there is no alternative.
The European airlines such as SWISS, this is how you rescue your country from the high tariffs.

Hank, on the right side of the pond one has a different view. This and other top up orders are not fooling anybody over here. The chances of Boeing being able to fulfil these orders in this half of the century are considered to be near impossible. Design anomalies, regulatory hurdles and workforce uncertainty is only a start of the Boeing challenges yet to come. This is hardly “Great news for America”.

Has it not occurred to those who should know better, that topping up existing orders for American goods is mainly undertaken to ensure lower tariffs elsewhere? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush …. or in this case a Trump-card.

Wahhh, wahhh, wahhh, they didn't order A350s! Go whine somewhere else, Tim.

According to CCO Lavinia Lau, not all 779s will have first class.

Apparently I didn't read the edit, so that's on me! 😉

Not sure that 2027 is all that realistic for induction into Cathay.

Even if Boeing gets fully certified in 2026, that's just for the plane. Then the interiors need to be installed (which nowadays frequently has its own delays), and then everything needs to be certified again with the interiors. I can see the business class not being too big an issue to certify (since it's basically a standard reverse herringbone with a door, and it's already flying on 777s). But if the first class is as radically new as you're saying it will be, that will likely take time.

IOW, there are still lots of steps that need to occur -- beyond just the basic certification that Boeing still doesn't have -- for these birds to fly. 18-24 months seems exceedingly aggressive for it (especially since they're probably not the launch customer so they won't even get the first aircraft off the line).

First, Trump is Boeing's #1 salesman right now and addressing trade imbalances has provided opportunity to push Boeing's products.
second, the 777X is a high dollar product so, when Boeing starts delivering 777X, it will tremendously help Boeing's bottom line. Presumably CX would not add on to their order if they didn't think Boeing was nearing the end of the process.
third, the 777X, at least as the -9 is a high capacity aircraft but it will be a less capable aircraft than the A350-1000 in terms of range. Boeing says the 777-8 will be competitive - if not more capable - than the 35K but until the 777-9 is flying, it will be hard to know how closely the 777-8 will come to the 35Ks performance - and the 777-8 is expected to be a bit larger than the 35K
CX is a 35K operator so they do have access to a very long range new generation aircraft

More mindless morons meander mournfully around this website, obsessively posting meaningless mundane messages.
The madness of these misappropriation mongers is mind blowing.
Condolences to their families and friends for having to endure their presence.

I'd also order a bunch more 777X if I was running an airline. With the monumental delays and Trump trying to big-up American Industry, these probably cost the same as a Cybertruck.

"addressing trade imbalances" lmaooooooooo

Tim plz stick to Delta numbers buddy youre good at that

I wouldn't credit this particular order from CX to Trump simply because this is just for CX to exercise the purchase rights. CX did that all the time, in A330-300, A350s, B777 classic, B747-400, etc. Other orders, you may credit Trump for them, but not this one.

One thing is somehow left out in the reporting in this supplemental agreement between Boeing and Cathay is that CX is getting 7 additional purchase rights of the 777-9 aircrafts.

Boeing says the 777-8 will be competitive - if not more capable - than the 35K

Boeing says a lot of things.

But the fact that the 777-8 will weigh 358 tonnes, yet offer less range (at similar payload) than the 322 tonne A350-1000 already does today...

...goes a long way towards explaining why only two airlines (EK and QR) have the 777-8 on order, or have shown the slightest bit of interest in it, for the 13yrs that it's been available to order.

I don't disagree w/ you, CB. But it is rare in commercial aviation for one of Airbus or Boeing to not have an answer to a product the other makes.

I fully expect the 35K will be the only credible player in the ULH over 300 passenger segment. but Boeing can't say that they aren't creating a competitor.

CXTrav,
I'm not saying that Trump gets credit for this order. I am saying that Trump has done more to help Boeing sell its products because an order for Boeing aircraft can quickly change a trade imbalance. And I won't debate with those that argue about trade balance or imbalance but the concept is real; whether it should be handled the way it is being handled now is not a question I am addressing.

Just to add, the bigger titles are nice, and in another PR photo, the green colour on the livery blends nicely with Hong Kong's landscape.

Even with this new order, the 777X book is still a bit of a stinker when you remove the EK and QR numbers from the tally. Type certification has been such a convoluted nightmare that I'm not going to believe it's all real until the first aircraft is delivered and operates its debut commercial service.

Presidential administrations come and go regularly. The 1930s-style protectionist nonsense coming out of DC right now won't last. No airline is going to buy billions of dollars worth of equipment just to appease the United States any more than they will spend many billions of dollars of stockholder cash on years-long plans to relocate pharmaceutical and electronics manufacturing plants to US soil. Trump's term will be over in the blink of an eye.

I hope and pray. Can't end quick enough.

Better than paying a hundred million for a flaming bag of Toulouse dog crap.

Clearly there are some ORDinary folks (resembling “Bears of very little brains”) who lap up all of the Boeing propaganda and quite obviously have never set foot inside an Airbus cabin.
Nor do the ORDinary folks appear to read Ben’s flight reviews. For to do so would effectively educate the ORDinary folks and broaden their knowledge base.
Thank you ORDinary contributor for giving the readers an insight into your bigotry …. 🙂