Malaysia Airlines (MAS) says it will not place orders for the Boeing 787, citing the long lead time before the aircraft can be delivered.

"There are many orders for the Dreamliner, and any orders placed today will only see the Dreamliner being delivered in 2020," says MAS CFO Mohd Azha Abdul Jalil.

"We are currently planning to refresh our wide-body aircraft but we don't see a fit between our current fleet plans and the delivery dates of the Dreamliner," he says. "As such, at this point, there are no plans to place orders for the Dreamliner."

MAS operates 83 aircraft, according to Flightglobal's ACAS database. Of these, 14 are Airbus A330 aircraft, and 17 are Boeing 777-200ERs.

In late 2007, prior to last year's financial crisis, MAS said it was looking to lease and purchase up to 55 widebody aircraft in the 200 to 300 seat Airbus A350 and 787 categories, for replacement and growth requirements.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news