Boeing wins first 787 Dreamliner orders for the year
10 May 2011
China Southern Airlines, the largest carrier in China, has said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange that its subsidiary Xiamen Airlines has ordered six Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes. The order, said a Bloomberg report, is not yet final.
The Xiamen order is worth $1.1 billion at list prices, though the carrier will pay "significantly" less than this price, the filing said.
These are Boeing's first 787 Dreamliner orders for the year, and mark a turnaround for the beleaguered programme, which has suffered a series of cancelations. Boeing lost a total of 12 Dreamliner orders earlier this year.
The actual value of the order is estimated at about $670 million, according to market data from aircraft valuation firm Avitas.
Previously, in 2006, Xiamen cancelled an order for three 787s, replacing them with six B737-800s.
China Southern Airline controls 60% of Xiamen Air stock while Xiamen Construction & development retains the remaining 40%.
Providing another leg-up to the 787 programme, Rolls Royce announced Monday that its Trent 1000 engine for the Dreamliner has won Extended Twin Engine Operations (ETOPS) approval by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), meaning it is certified to fly up to 330 minutes away from the nearest airport.
However, Rolls Royce must also separately complete extended flight tests for the engine in combination with the Dreamliner aircraft to win ETOPS approval. Those flight tests will commence soon.
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