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British Airways reveals new plane orders

Visitors line up to board an Airbus A380 at Hong Kong International Airport during the Asia Aerospace International Expo and Congress 2007 earlier this month. PHOTO: EPA

British Airways said yesterday it had ordered 12 Airbus superjumbo A380s and 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes.

It said it had also taken an option on a further seven Airbus 380s and 18 Boeing Dreamliners and that all the planes would be equipped with Rolls Royce engines.

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh said yesterday the airline experienced no political pressure when choosing Airbus' A380 superjumbo over its traditional choice of Boeing's 747 jumbo.

"There was absolutely none," Walsh told reporters when asked whether political pressure had been exerted. "There was no contact, be it formal or informal. The decision was made in the best interest of British Airways. In the engines, the choice of Rolls Royce was because British is best."

The airline said in a statement on its Web site that the new aircraft will replace 34 of its long-haul fleet and will be delivered between 2010 and 2014.

It said the order had a catalogue value of US$8.2 billion.

Walsh said in the statement the order is the largest fleet order since 1998.

"The aircraft will be greener, quieter and more fuel efficient with significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions and reduced impact on local air quality. This was a key consideration in the order."

statement on British Airways' Web site

It is also the first time that Airbus will enter BA's long-haul fleet.

The order, including options, will give the airline the ability to grow its capacity by up to four percent per year and the flexibility to tailor its future capacity growth in line with market conditions, it said.

"The aircraft will be greener, quieter and more fuel efficient with significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions and reduced impact on local air quality. This was a key consideration in the order," the statement said.

"These aircraft set the gold standard when it comes to environmental performance in the key areas of CO2 emissions, local air quality and noise. They will contribute significantly to our target of improving fuel efficiency by 25 percent between 2005 and 2025," Walsh said.

"They are also much quieter than their predecessors, which is of vital importance at Heathrow [airport]. Both the A380 and B787 are rated as producing a quarter of the noise level of the B747-400," he said.

The statement said both aircraft bring significant economic benefits with lower costs per seat.

They are both long-range aircraft and bring more flexibility to the fleet as, unlike the Boeing B767 that they replace, they can be flown across the airline's network.

British Airways said it will continue to consider the most suitable aircraft to replace its remaining Boeing B747-400 aircraft and is examining the Boeing B787-10 and B777-300 ER and the Airbus A350XWB.

The airline said it has arranged for a group of banks to provide US$1.5 billion of debt financing to cover all of the airline's firm orders to the end of 2011.
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