United orders more Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and introduce 787-10

United Airlines has announced the purchase of an additional nine Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, which at list prices, is worth over US$2.5 billion.

Set to be delivered from 2020, the aircraft are intended to replace existing old-generation widebody aircraft within their fleet such as the Boeing 767-400ER and 777-200 as well as to expand their network.

The current 787 Dreamliner order placed by United consists of 13 787-9s and 14 787-10s, with the first 787-10 series slated to enter service in a few months on the Newark to San Francisco and Newark and Los Angeles routes. Options for 10 of the smaller 787-8 variant are also available to the airline should they desire. 12 787-8s and 25 787-9s are already in service with United Airlines.

The United Boeing 787-10 configuration is 44 in Polaris Business Class, 21 in Premium Plus and 253 in Economy Class.

Newark – Los Angeles eff 07JAN19 1 daily (2 daily from 14FEB19)
Newark – San Francisco eff 14FEB19 2 daily (3 daily from 08MAR19)

By the end of 2018, United is expected to have 40 787s in operation with 24 on order. All of the aircraft in service and on order have the General Electric GEnx engines selected.

This year has been an enormous success for the Dreamliner with Boeing already receiving orders for 105 of the type, making the entire order book for the 787 just one short of 1400 which is an incredible achievement.

Boeing states that more than half of its customers for the 787 Dreamliner have come back to place additional orders for the type. The 20% less fuel burn, 20% less emissions figure and competitive operating costs is what’s driving customers back for the type according to Boeing.