Another Boeing 787 Order

Boeing looks set to convert options for its popular 787 Dreamliner into firm orders, according to fresh reporting.

Adrian Shofield of Aviation Week reports that Thai Airways is in current discussions with the American planemaker to deepen its firm commitment to the 787 Dreamliner.

As part of a landmark contract assigned in February 2024, Thai Airways purchased 45 Boeing 787s. While sizable, it was the options that caused the most intrigue for many.

Thai Airways has been rebuilding its business for some time after years of turbulence, and during the restructuring, many decisions were made to achieve long-term stability.

With the drive for efficiency, the flag carrier of Thailand was forced to make significant changes to its operational fleet to ensure greater stability moving forward, resulting in the axing of specific aircraft types.

Most notably, the axings centred on some of the airline’s larger aircraft types, which, while bringing truckloads of capacity, also carried the burden of their size and inefficiency across the Thai Airways network.

From the Boeing 747 to the Airbus A340 and the world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, these three aircraft types disappeared in a matter of years, leaving a gaping hole in airlines’ operations.

While the gaping hole made sense during a period of restructuring, Thai Airways has now emerged and is looking to grow, and with that comes the requirement for capacity to meet demand across markets it was forced to abandon or reduce its presence in.

The ability to move ahead now with the exercising of options for some of these aircraft represents a landmark moment in the turnaround iniaitives.

The Boeing 787 Order & Aircraft Pressures

Thai Airways’ 787 order was confirmed at the 2024 edition of the Singapore Airshow, a deal that, while announced here, was listed at the end of 2023 as from an unidentified customer.

Thai Airways specifically committed to 45 of the 787-9 Dreamliners, with options as well, which are now slowly being activated to fill the gap and give the airline greater capacity.

With options now in the process of being activated, this follows October reporting, which highlighted that the airline’s pursuit of new aircraft was continuing and that the desperation was only growing.

While the desperation centred on more immediate acquisition efforts, such as the leasing market for around 10 widebody aircraft per board approval, having more 787s in the future backlog will ease the pressure when leases expire.

For Thai Airways, the persistent challenges with new aircraft from plane makers Airbus and Boeing have put added pressure on the company; this is no surprise, however, and is widely reported across the industry.

The flag-carrier said in August that it was scrambling to secure planes to serve its widebody operation, driven by a desire to mitigate damage from the lack of new planes being delivered by planemakers Airbus and Boeing.

Thai Airways’ stance has been clear: without access to next-generation aircraft across both its narrow- and widebody sectors, short-term growth will not be achieved as forecast.