Cathay Pacific Eyes Huge Aircraft Order

Cathay Pacific is reportedly eyeing a new aircraft purchase from Airbus or Boeing to grow its widebody fleet.

Reporting, led by Danny Lee from Bloomberg, indicated that Cathay Pacific has put forward requests for proposals or RFPs to Airbus and Boeing, allowing them to bid for the order.

Likely to be a multi-billion dollar deal, Cathay Pacific has emphasised developing its fleet following the global pandemic. Development will be achieved through the purchase of many new aircraft.

Cathay Pacific has remained interested in new planes across multiple years and has, on several occasions, also gone through purchases such as the A330neo, which is expected to play a pivotal role in its mid-sized widebody operations.

However, one avenue yet to be decided on is for the airline to look towards planes such as the Airbus A350 and even the Boeing 787 alongside additional 777X jets that would bolster its widebody fleet.

While the 777X remains uncertified, a top-up purchase of this type alongside the A350 would see the company re-commit to planes already in its fleet portfolio.

However, purchasing the Boeing 787 would shift away from the already ordered aircraft and possibly add complexity to the airline’s business with the A330neo, the 787s direct competitor, being ordered in 2024.

If, therefore, the 787 was to be selected as part of the airline’s next widebody order valued in the billions, Cathay Pacific would have every aircraft type part of the next-generation fleet.

Most airlines opt for a fleet portfolio away from this complexity as they see lower operating costs, simplified maintenance, and even training by streamlining to having just a select few aircraft types.

Ultimately, Airbus would feel that it may be better positioned to win this contract from Cathay Pacific thanks to its recent success in RFPs that the Hong Kong-based carrier has put forward.

Boeing, while seeing orders made for their upcoming 777X, ultimately took place in the early to mid-2010s, and since then, it has been relatively quiet. On the other hand, Airbus has won several company purchases.