All Nippon Airways Co, Asia's second-biggest airline, said it placed a firm order for 45 Boeing Co 737-700 jetliners on Saturday, in a move to cut costs by reducing its fleet of single-aisle planes to one aircraft type.
Deliveries of the new planes, worth as much as US$2.48 billion according to list prices, will start in December 2005, the company said in a press release.
All Nippon, which didn't confirm the value of the order, expects to save about ?6 billion (US$50 million) a year from the shift to one narrow-body aircraft type from the current two.
The airline now operates a fleet of 53 single-aisle planes, including 26 Airbus SAS A320s, 25 Boeing 737-500s and two 737-400s, All Nippon said. Operating more than one aircraft type increases maintenance and training costs.
The new, 142-seat planes will be powered by CFM56-7 engines made by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co and France's Snecma SA.
All Nippon first announced it had selected Boeing to supply its single-aisle planes on April 9.
The decision sparked protests from the governments of France, Germany and Spain as well as the European Commission, which said the selection was unfair and the reasons for choosing Boeing "weren't entirely commercial."
The win for Boeing means Japanese carriers remain dependent on the US company for at least 80 percent of their aircraft.
Boeing and its European rival Airbus are desperate for orders to keep their factories operating as a global slump in air travel saps demand.
In related news, Airbus SAS, Europe's largest planemaker, is bidding for a contract worth about 700 million euros (US$801 million) with Air Algeria, French daily La Tribune reported, citing an Airbus executive.
The Algerian airline wants to buy five A330 and three A320 planes. Airbus submitted its offer last month, said Abdellah Sbai, vice president of Middle Eastern sales at Airbus, the paper reported.
Airbus, which is 80 percent owned by European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co and 20 percent by BAE Systems Plc, has won five times as many aircraft orders as rival Boeing Co this year.
"Air Algeria published an tender offer to which we've responded on May 7," Sbai told La Tribune.
Separately, a report in Le Figaro said yesterday that Air France resumed flights to Algeria over the weekend for the first time since a hijacking attempt in 1994.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source