British Airways has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been revealed as the airline behind a big new Boeing jet order that forms part of a trade deal between the Trump administration and the United Kingdom.
Teased by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday, the deal, valued at around $9 billion according to administration officials, was confirmed by BA’s parent company on Friday morning.
The deal will see British Airways order an additional 38 Boeing widebody jets.
- 32 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners
- 6 next-generation Boeing 777-9s
The first new Dreamliners from this order will start to be delivered in 2028, with the order set to be completed by 2033. Meanwhile, the Boeing 777-9s will join the British Airways fleet between 2027 and 2030.
British Airways already has 18 of Boeing’s massively delayed 777-9 widebody jets on order, and seven more 787-10 Dreamliners are already in the pipeline to join the carrier’s fleet in the next few years.
As part of the trade framework announced between the United States and the UK on Thursday, it is understood that the British government secured a deal for engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce to import its jet engines into the US with a 0% tariff on the back of the British Airways order.
Parent company IAG did not, however, reference the trade deal when it announced the new order as part of its Q1 financial results.
As well as the Boeing order, the airline group also revealed that British Airways had exercised options for six additional A350-1000 aircraft from European manufacturer Airbus.
IAG has also ordered 21 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft which will be going to fellow group carriers Iberia and Aer Lingus. The group said the majority of these planes would be used to replace older, less efficient planes, but around one-third of the order will be used to fuel growth in core markets.
One of the big issues with BA’s existing fleet of Boeing 787-10s is that the airline opted not to have flight attendant rest facilities installed on the first 11 of these aircraft.
The reason behind this was that the 787-10 is the stretched version of Boeing’s popular Dreamliner model and has the most limited flying range. British Airways hoped that it could get away with only using these jets on its shortest long-haul flights, which wouldn’t require mandatory inflight rest for crew members.
By choosing not to have flight attendant bunks fitted, the airline was able to squeeze an extra row of Economy seats onboard.
However, this decision has had long-term consequences, limiting the destinations that British Airways can send its 787-10s far below its actual flying range. In some cases, flights have even been canceled at the last minute because flight attendants would run out of legal flying hours without bunks being fitted.
It’s understood that all future 787-10 deliveries will now include bunk facilities so we might now see these aircraft flying to destinations further afield.
As for the Airbus A350, this was also the topic of a lot of debate when they were first delivered in 2019 and 2020 because British Airways selected an incredibly space-efficient layout that made it very difficult for flight attendants to complete onboard service.
Passengers still regularly complain about the length of time it takes to get served on the Airbus A350, and it will be interesting to see whether British Airways changes the layout of this new order based on the feedback from passengers and crew.
