I went back and looked at a post I published on April 4, 2007 when the 787 program crossed the 500 (and 14) order mark when JAL added five 787. Today, December 27, 2007, the 787 program crossed the golden mark: 787 orders, 790 to be exact. The milestone was crossed when British Airways firmed its order for 24 787 (8 x 787-8 + 16 x 787-9). This eclipses the 737 orders the 737NG program accumulated at the time of its first delivery to Southwest.
Somewhat ironically, I wrote this:
...by May 2008 when the first 787-881 is delivered to ANA the title may be revoked [for the 737] if Boeing hasn't booked 738 firm orders. Why not shoot for 787?
Mission accomplished. Congratulations Boeing.
Image Courtesy The Boeing Company
There are other notable orders over the last few days also:
GOL: 74 737-800
Jeju Air: 5 737-800
Air Astana: 3 787-8
There are a few others floating around and the math is always fuzzy with firm orders, but the Boeing/Airbus order battle is even tighter than ever. Stay tuned.
Truly Amazing! Boeing has easily surpassed 1300 orders for the year, and the 787 totals stand at 790 firm. Wow...can Boeing win the orders crown for the year and can the 787 best 1000 orders prior to EIS?
I would say neither is out of the question.
Just a point of interest. Boeing says they now have 790 787 orders as firm. At the end of November 2007 they had 761. Add BAs 24 and the 4 UFO orders they added during December that gives you 789. That means they also added one additional UFO 787 which will probably show up at the 2007 year end orders tally.
Now the interesting question is can they book 10 more 787 before year end to end up with 800 even? They have a couple of known opportunities:
12 for VN
15 for DAE
10 for Garuda Indonesia
10 for Hong Kong Airlines
I kow the last two probably won't ever come in this or the next lifetime but the first two can possibly happen before Dec. 31st.
Opinions?
The replacement cycle for 747-400 will start very soon, so there will be many 747-8i orders in 2008.
Quote:
"The replacement cycle for 747-400 will start very soon, so there will be many 747-8i orders in 2008"
and more likely new A380s orders!