• 

  British Airways

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  BA/BAW

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport

  Year Founded:

  1974

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  Airline Group:

  IAG

  CEO:

  Sean Doyle

  Country:

  United Kingdom

British Airways owner IAG has confirmed that the British flag carrier’s 777X order has been impacted by the latest delays to the 777X program. In line with the delays, British Airways is now expecting its first aircraft with folding wingtips until mid-2025, assuming there are no further delays to the widebody program.

The British Airways Boeing 777X order was first announced in November 2019. At the time, the first eight 777X aircraft were due to land at London Heathrow Airport in 2022. Each time the aircraft program has been delayed, so have the first deliveries to each customer.

No 777X until mid-2025

Last week Boeing revealed that it isn’t expecting to receive certification for the 777X in the tail part of 2024. Manufacturers don’t deliver uncertified aircraft, as was seen when the 737 MAX was grounded. This naturally means that planemaker won’t deliver the 777X before it has received certification.

British Airways isn’t due to get the first Boeing 777X, and it seems not the first few. Last week Simple Flying reported that, so far, 20 airframes have been built, none built for British Airways. As such, the airline doesn’t expect its first jet until around half a year after the type’s certification is expected.

Commenting on the matter, an IAG spokesperson told Simple Flying,

British Airways is due to take delivery of its first B777-9 in mid-2025... We are in discussions with Boeing to assess any potential impact.

This time around, IAG was quick to react to the delay announced by Boeing. This wasn’t the case when the program was delayed last time (until late 2023 in January 2021). The airline group declined to comment at the time. The delay was only confirmed by IAG in its quarterly results presentation as an aside a few months later.

Starting to cause issues?

Many airlines, such as Lufthansa, weren’t particularly worried about the last delay. If anything, the previous delay was positive as it allowed the airlines to take more time to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

British Airways was one such airline. It had intended to retire Boeing 747-400 aircraft in line with 777X deliveries. However, the pandemic allowed the carrier to withdraw the 747 early, with the 777X deliveries set to line up with a return of demand. Now, the British flag carrier is potentially looking at a situation where demand will return ahead of deliveries, perhaps leading to a shortfall of widebody aircraft.

What about the Boeing 787?

As far as Boeing deliveries are concerned, the 777X isn’t the only problematic type. As of November 2019, British Airways had expected its 12 Boeing 787-10 deliveries to follow this schedule,

• 2020 - Six
• 2021 - Two
• 2022 - One
• 2023 - Three

Now that we're halfway through 2022, it is clear that the original plan hasn't been met. British Airways has just two 787-10s, both delivered within three days of each other in June 2020. The American planemaker hasn't provided any new 787s for almost a year, meaning that British Airways is short of even more widebodies than it had likely accounted for when the Boeing 747 was retired prematurely. According to data from BOE Family Flights, there are now four new 787-10s waiting to be delivered once Boeing gets the green light. According to ch-aviation.com, one of these, G-ZBLC, is already 1.65 years old.

When do you think British Airways will take delivery of its first Boeing 777X? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!

Sources: BOE Family Flights, ch-aviation.com