Boeing risks losing a $1 billion order for its 787 Dreamliner aircraft to a rival model from Airbus SAS if the U.S. plane’s production schedule slips any further, Gulf carrier Oman Air said.
Oman, which has ordered six Dreamliners for delivery starting in the first half of 2014, may turn to Airbus’s A330 widebody if a two-year delay to the 787 is extended, Chief Executive Officer Peter Hill said in an interview.
“I really hope they get their act together,” Hill said. “Further delays might mean that we’d have to look elsewhere.”
Boeing says the Dreamliner will fly this year and that the aircraft will be delivered to the first customers at the end of 2010. The plane’s production schedule has slipped more than two years since the first of five delays emerged in October 2007.
Muscat-based Oman Air already has seven A330s from Airbus on order, with the first four scheduled for handover this year. Buying the Toulouse, France-based planemaker’s newer A350 model is not an option as the carrier would be too far down the delivery list, said Hill, who spoke in London.
Oman Air has no plans to defer any planes as a response to the recession and needs the delivery positions to take advantage of any rebound in demand for air travel, Hill said.
“We don’t have a view that we should defer, we want to develop routes, we want to expand,” he said.
Source: Bloomberg.com
Oman Air, The Sultanate of Oman flagship carrier based in Muscat, have signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire six (6) Boeing B787 Dreamliner aircraft from ALAFCO Aviation Lease And Finance Company headquartered in Kuwait. Oman Air would be the first airline in the Gulf region to undergo such move to obtain the Dreamliner aircrafts, which are expected to be delivered to the carrier in 2012, 2014, and 2015. Oman Air said the 787 would upgrade its existing fleet, as well as provide for fleet growth to meet its future aggressive expanding plans.
He who laughs last obviously has'nt heard the bad news.