British Airways Airbus A320neo aircraft, G-TTNA (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways’ parent company International Airlines Group has ordered more Airbus A320neo family aircraft.
IAG has today, Thursday 30 June 2022, converted options from a previous order into a firm order for 11 Airbus A320neo and 3 Airbus A321neo aircraft.
This is on top of an order in March this year for 6 Airbus A320neo & 2 Airbus A321neo aircraft.
These 22 aircraft will be delivered in 2024 and 2025. IAG has not stated which airlines in the group will receive them. They will be used to replace existing Airbus A320 family aircraft.
As with existing new Airbus A320 family aircraft the configuration will be standardised to enable aircraft to be moved around the group.
British Airways Airbus A350-1000 G-XWBA Aircraft, London Heathrow (Image Credit: British Airways)
Welcome to our updated guide to British Airways’ plans to refurbish and renew its short and long-haul fleet.
Following COVID-19, BA has changed its aircraft retirement and renewal plans. COVID-19 has cut the size of BA’s fleet by more than 10% with aircraft reduced from 305 to 277.
In 2020, wide body aircraft decreased by 24 from 135 to 111 aircraft. This was accounted for by the retirement of 32 Boeing 747 and 3 older Boeing 777-200 aircraft. This was offset by new deliveries of 5 Airbus A350-1000, 4 Boeing 777-300ER and 2 Boeing 787-10 aircraft.
At 31 December 2020, BA still had 10 Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 787-10 aircraft and 18 Boeing 777-900 aircraft to be delivered. In all likelihood these will be delayed. Options to acquire a further 36 Airbus A350-100 and 24 Boeing 777-900 are unlikely to exercised. The airline has previously allowed options to acquire a further 9 Boeing 787-9 aircraft to lapse.
The movement in short haul aircraft is more modest, with the fleet decreasing by just 2 to 166 aircraft. The airline continues to retire Airbus A319 aircraft and withdraw the Embraer E170 at London City.
At 31 December 2020, BA had just 9 Airbus A320neo and 3 Airbus A321neo aircraft left to be delivered. It still has options to acquire a further 10 Airbus A320neo aircraft, having allowed around 20 other options to lapse.
There are of course huge unknowns as to how many remaining aircraft will actually be brought back into service. In its base assessment on the planned return to service capacity in the first quarter of 2022 is expected to be 17% below the first quarter of 2019. A given plausible alternative scenario is a 61% reduction in capacity.
In the medium term, there is the question of whether the airline sees the Airbus A321 LR and XLR aircraft having a role. BA’s fellow IAG subsidiary Aer Lingus had ordered 8 A321 LR and 6 A321 XLR aircraft. Iberia had also ordered 6 A321 XLR aircraft.
A number of short haul aircraft have been retired in 2020 including BA’s last remaining Airbus A318 aircraft and all but one Embraer E170 aircraft.
At its parent company level, IAG’s fleet of aircraft reduced from 598 to 533 in 2020 with short haul aircraft cut from 394 to 367 aircraft and long haul aircraft cut from 204 to 166. These changes do not affect IAG’s Letter of Intent to acquire the Boeing 737 MAX.
In 2021, IAG expects to take delivery of 5 short haul and 10 long haul aircraft. Deliveries are expected to continue to be reduced into 2022.
Depending on how long it will take for air travel to return to normal, further changes are expected.
IAG 2nd Quarter Results Presentation, 31 July 2020
Here’s a run through of recent and forthcoming deliveries and refurbishments by aircraft type:
Airbus A350-1000
British Airways Airbus A350-1000 G-XWBA Aircraft, London Heathrow (Image Credit: British Airways)
BA has started to take delivery of the Airbus A350-1000, of which there are 18 on order. As at July 2021, eight aircraft are in service.
The first Airbus A350s are in a three class configuration, with no First Class. There are 56 Club World “Club Suite” seats, 56 World Traveller Plus seats, and 219 World Traveller seats.
BA expects to take delivery of all aircraft by the end of 2023. The airline also has options for 36 more aircraft.
BA’s sister airline Aer Lingus had ordered 5 Airbus A350-900 aircraft which it has now cancelled. IAG expects to allocate these aircraft to either BA or Iberia.
Please see here for details of the new Club World cabin and here for internal and external pictures of the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.
Prior to COVID-19, it ordinarily operated on selected flights to destinations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Boston (summer seasonal), Chicago (summer seasonal), San Francisco, Vancouver (summer seasonal) and Washington Dulles.
BA had options to acquire a further 7 A380s which have lapsed. There was talk of BA’s leasing second-hand Airbus A380s but did not come to anything due to the cost of reconfiguring aircraft.
Prior to COVID-19, BA had planned to retrofit its new “Club Suite” to A380 aircraft from 2023.
British Airways Airbus A380 Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow)
Every year the parent company of British Airways, International Airlines Group, publishes an annual fleet plan at its Capital Markets Day.
Here’s the latest fleet plan published last November:
International Airlines Group Capital Markets Day (Image Credit: International Airlines Group)
As this is published for the group as a whole, it’s not easy to distill which orders and future deliveries relate to BA, particularly for short-haul aircraft.
However, BA has just filed its own annual accounts. We read these things so you don’t have to, and here is BA’s plan for new aircraft deliveries as at 31 December 2018:
British Airways Fleet Plan at 31 December 2018
This does pre-date IAG’s decision to order 18 Boeing 777-9 aircraft for BA. Although it includes one wet-leased SAAB aircraft, it doesn’t include others such as Air Belgium’s Airbus A340. BA CityFlyer is also due to acquire an additional (presumably second hand) Embraer E190 aircraft for London City.
Taking this into account, planned deliveries of new aircraft are:
Short-haul
Airbus A320neo: 18, with options for 33. 3 have been delivered this year. Airbus A321neo: 9, 2 have been delivered this year.
Long-haul
Airbus A350-1000: 18 aircraft, with options for 36 more. 4 will be delivered this year. Boeing 777-300: 4 aircraft, to be delivered in 2020. Boeing 777-900: 18 aircraft, to be delivered from 2022 to 2025. Boeing 787-9: options for 6 more aircraft. Boeing 787-10: 12 aircraft, to delivered from 2020 to 2023.
In total, that’s 52 new wide body aircraft over the next five years so, to replace at least 35 Boeing 747 and 3 Boeing 777-200 aircraft.
This does allow for a substantial amount of growth, but is of course subject to change depending on economic and geopolitical events.
On other point of note is that BA’s options to acquire a further 7 Airbus A380 aircraft have now either expired or been cancelled. Following the decision by Airbus to end production of the Airbus A380 it has been clear that BA would not be ordering any more new A380s. This is now beyond any doubt.
British Airways Fleet Montage (Image Credits: British Airways / Heathrow)
Welcome to our updated guide to British Airways’ plans to refurbish and renew its short and long-haul fleet for 2019.
Note: An updated version of this post for 2020 has been posted here.
The information below is based on plans published by BA’s parent company, International Airlines Group at its Capital Markets Day in 2018.
BA’s fleet plans are under constant review and can, in the medium term, be influenced by economic and geopolitical events.
BA’s parent company International Airlines Group is also expected to place a new aircraft order with Airbus and/or Boeing in the coming months. BA doesn’t currently have enough long-haul aircraft on order to meet its retirement plans, let alone its growth ambitions, so an announcement should be imminent.
Here’s a run through of recent and forthcoming deliveries and refurbishments by aircraft type:
Airbus A350-1000
BA has started to take delivery of the Airbus A350-1000, of which there are 18 on order.
The first Airbus A350s will be in a three class configuration, with no First Class. There will be 56 Club World seats, 56 World Traveller Plus seats, and 219 World Traveller seats.
The first confirmed long-haul routes are London Heathrow – Toronto (BA93 / BA92) from 1 October 2019, London Heathrow – Dubai (BA107 & BA106) from 8 October 2019, London Heathrow – Tel Aviv (B163 / BA162) from 1 December 2019 and London Heathrow – Bengaluru (BA119 / BA118) from 1 January 2020.
Please see here for details of the new Club World cabin and here for pictures of the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.
Airbus A380
British Airways Airbus A380 Collage
BA has 12 Airbus A380s in service.
It currently operates on selected flights to destinations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Boston (summer seasonal), Chicago (summer seasonal), San Francisco, Vancouver (summer seasonal) and Washington Dulles. It will also operate briefly to Dubai from 16 April to 4 May 2019 due to the closure of the Southern runway.
Please see here for a detailed guide as to where the A380 will fly in 2019.
BA has options to acquire a further 7 A380s, which it has not exercised. Whilst the A380 clearly serves BA well on major gateways, IAG CEO Willie Walsh insists that the purchase price for new aircraft is too high.
There was talk some ago of BA’s leasing second-hand Airbus A380s but this has not come to anything, most likely due to the cost of reconfiguring aircraft.
British Airways Boeing 767-300 G-BNWP Pictured 1999
If aircraft fleets were families, what would the Boeing 767 be!?
That distant, somewhat eccentric and, at times, unloved relative?
This year, BA is expected to finally retire some of the oldest aircraft in its fleet as its last five remaining Boeing 767-300 aircraft are due to leave the airline.
BA originally ordered 28 aircraft in stages from the late 1980s onward. The first aircraft entered service from early 1990 and operated short-haul flights, predominantly to Paris Charles de Gaulle. They were soon joined later that year by long-haul configured aircraft, replacing TriStar aircraft to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Riyadh, Doha, Jeddah and Khartoum.
The last aircraft were delivered in 1998 with fleet then operating from Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester. Whilst the Boeing 767 fulfilled its initial promise of offering flexibility across short and long-haul operations, it soon fell out of favour.
At the turn of the century, BA put its whole network under review with the aim of cutting capacity and radically simplifying operations.
BA drastically downsized operations at Gatwick by reducing the number of different types of aircraft, leaving long-haul flights operated exclusively with the Boeing 777-200 – an aircraft that was also very much liked at Heathrow for its combination of capacity and efficiency.
A combination of the Eurostar winning traffic from airlines and BA downsizing its short-haul operations at Heathrow meant that the much smaller capacity Airbus A320 series was preferred over the Boeing 757 and 767. 7 Boeing 767s were dispatched to Qantas, leaving 21 in the fleet. Continue reading “British Airways bids farewell to the Boeing 767”
British Airways Fleet Montage (Image Credits: British Airways / Heathrow)
Welcome to our updated guide on BA’s plans to replace and refurbish its short and long-haul fleet.
The information below is based on plans published by BA’s parent company, International Airlines Group. Much of it based on announcements at its Capital Markets Days in 2017 and updated following the 2018 Capital Markets Day.
BA’s fleet plans are under constant review and can, in the medium term, be heavily influenced by geopolitical and economic events.
Here’s a run through of recent and forthcoming deliveries and refurbishments by aircraft type:
Airbus A380
British Airways First Class, Airbus A380 (Image Credit: British Airways)
BA has 12 Airbus A380s in service.
It currently operates on selected flights to destinations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Miami (winter seasonal), Boston (summer seasonal), Chicago (summer seasonal), San Francisco and Vancouver (summer seasonal). It has previously flown to Washington. Please see here for a full list of Airbus A380 routes for 2018.
BA has options to acquire a further 7 A380s direct from Airbus, which it has not exercised.
Given that BA can send up to 3 Boeing 747s a day from London Heathrow to Cape Town in January, there is arguably a case for more aircraft.
However, Willie Walsh, CEO of BA’s parent company International Airlines Group, insists that the purchase price of new aircraft is too high. IAG has raised the possibility of BA leasing second hand A380s to add flexible capacity. However, nothing has come of this yet.
Boeing 747-400
British Airways Club World Boeing 747 (Image Credit: British Airways)
BA has, at 31 December 2017, 36 Boeing 747s in service at London Heathrow.
BA now expects to retire the Boeing 747 in February 2024. The number of Boeing 747s will reduce to 12 by 2022.
18 aircraft have been recently refurbished. These are the Boeing 747s with 86 Club World seats. These aircraft look good on the inside with new carpets and seat covers. The in-flight entertainment system is also the best you’ll find on BA. These regularly operate on routes such as Austin, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Lagos, Kuwait, New York JFK, Philadelphia and San Diego.
The remaining 747s have not yet been refurbished. However, an unspecified number are due to be refurbished this year. These are the aircraft that have 52 business class seats. They regularly operate on routes such as Accra, Cape Town, Denver, Las Vegas, Nairobi, Phoenix and Vancouver.
Note is quite common for 52 / 86 Club World Boeing 747 routes to swap on certain dates depending on commercial demand and aircraft availability.
Update: Some non-refurbished 52 Club World seat Boeing 747 aircraft have been refurbished from October 2018. Please see here for further details.
Update November 2018: BA appears to be slowing down its 747 retirement plans. BA had planned to have 22 aircraft in service by the end of 2020. The most recent plan shows that 27 aircraft will be in service by the end of 2020. The retirement schedule will continue to accelerate after 2021.
Boeing 777-300
BA has 12 Boeing 777-300s in service at London Heathrow.
All operate in a four class configuration. It operates routes such as Hong Kong, San Diego, Sao Paulo, Singapore-Sydney, and Tokyo Haneda. It seems to work very well paired with the A380 as it is on Hong Kong and Singapore.
BA is expected to lease 3 Boeing 777-300 which will replace 3 Boeing 777-200 aircraft.
Boeing 777-200
British Airways Boeing 777 at London Gatwick
BA has 46 Boeing 777-200s in service at Gatwick and Heathrow.
The Boeing 777 is the mainstay of BA’s long-haul operation. Whilst it has never really captured the imagination of passengers, BA plans to keep the 777s in operation for 30 years, meaning some will still be in service beyond 2030.
25 Boeing 777-200s are earmarked for “densification”. This is IAG and BA lexicon for squeezing in more seats. This means that BA will move from 9 to 10 seats across in World Traveller economy. If this is considered a financial success you can be confident that it will be extended to the rest of the Boeing 777 fleet.
BA will also reduce the number of Club World business class seats on three class Gatwick Boeing 777s from 40 to 32 seats and increase the number of World Traveller Plus premium economy seats from 24 to 52 seats. Overall, the number of seats on these aircraft will increase from 280 to in excess of 330. Here are details of the Gatwick routes on which the “densified” Boeing 777 is expected to operate in 2018.
Update March 2018: Please see here for images of the refurbished aircraft which was unveiled on Monday 5 March 2018.
Update November 2018: As at Novemer 2018, six Gatwick Boeing 777-200 aircraft (registrations G-VIIO, G-VIIP, G-VIIR, G-VIIT, G-VIIU & G-VIIX) have been refurbished.
It is also expected that First Class will be removed or reduced in size on a number of London Heathrow Boeing 777-200s. This is likely to coincide with the installation of a new Club World cabin, a larger World Traveller Plus cabin and 10 abreast seating in World Traveller. BA has not yet indicated which London Heathrow routes are to be operated with refurbished aircraft.
Boeing 767
British Airways Boeing 767-300 G-BNWP Pictured 1999
There are 5 Boeing 767s left in service.
These still (just about) soldier on a few short-haul routes at London Heathrow. It operates on selected frequencies to routes such as Athens, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Larnaca, Madrid and Stockholm. The Boeing 767 should be fully withdrawn from service by the end of 2018 at the latest. The last scheduled return flight is London Heathrow – Larnaca on Sunday 25 November 2018. Please see here for the planned final Boeing 767 flights by destination.
Boeing 787-800
British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (Image Credit: Heathrow)
BA has 10 Boeing 787-800 in service.
These all operate in a three class configuration, with no First Class. They operate on routes such as Baltimore, Calgary, Chennai, Durban, Hyderabad, Montreal, Nashville, New Orleans, Seoul and, from next year, Pittsburgh. The 787 also operates selected frequencies to Toronto.
The main comment this aircraft attracts is how tight the seating is in World Traveller economy. We’ve not actually sat in one of the seats but certainly from observing the cabin mid-flight on a number of flights it does indeed look very tight.
BA is due to take delivery of a further 2 aircraft. BA also has options to acquire a further 12 Boeing 787-800 aircraft.
Boeing 787-900
British Airways Boeing 787-9 First Class (Image Credit: British Airways)
BA has 18 787-900 aircraft in service
These aircraft all operate in a four class configuration, with an 8 seat First Class cabin. It operates on routes such as Abu Dhabi, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico City, Muscat, San Jose, Santiago and The Seychelles. It can also operate on a number of Boeing 787-800 routes above on selected days.
BA has options for a further 6 aircraft.
Update: A number of Boeing 787 aircraft are undergoing additional maintenance following a Federal Aviation Administration Directive. Please see here for details.
Boeing 787-1000
BA has 12 Boeing 787-1000s on order.
These are due to be delivered from 2020 to 2023. In total, BA is expected to ultimately have a fleet of approximately 42 787 family aircraft.
Airbus A350-1000
BA is due to take delivery of the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft from 2019.
BA currently has 18 A350-1000 aircraft on order, with options for a further 36 aircraft. The arrival of the A350 will be anticipated, not least because it is expected that BA will finally unveil a new Club World seat which BA claims will be “top tier” and will offer direct aisle access for all.
The “known unknown” is whether a more spacious Club World seat will result in the removal of First Class. Iberia is due to take delivery of 16 A350-900 aircraft from this year, which may provide some clues on the layout and configuration of the aircraft.
In total, IAG has 43 Airbus A350 aircraft on order, with options for a further 52 aircraft. The difference of 9 is accounted for by Aer Lingus. However, it is not known when or, if it all, it will take delivery of this aircraft.
Update November 2018: BA has confirmed that it will first take delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000 in July 2019. It will have four aircraft in service by the end of 2018. These aircraft will not have a First Class cabin.
Airbus A318
BA now has just one Airbus A318 in service, operating London City – New York JFK.
Whilst this route is well received by passengers there is clearly limited support from corporate customers to support this niche service. It is questionable how long it will last, particularly after the launch of Crossrail which will reduce journey times from Canary Wharf to London Heathrow.
Airbus A319, A320, A321
BA has 44, 67 & 14 short-haul configured Airbus A319, A320, A321 at Heathrow and Gatwick.
The number of seats on London Heathrow Airbus A320s is to be increased from 168 to 180 seats from early 2018. The number of seats on London Heathrow Airbus A321s is to be increased from 205 to 218 seats from late March 2018.
This is driven partly by a desire by BA to be as cost competitive against easyJet as possible, but also because BA has compete against other IAG group airlines to receive investment in its short-haul network.
The number of Airbus A319s is due to progressively reduce from 44 to 22 by 2022. However, this may change following the acquisition of slots at Gatwick from Monarch.
Airbus A320neo and A321neo
BA will take delivery of the Airbus A320 Neo and Airbus A321 Neo from this year.
BA has 10 Airbus A321 Neo on order. There will be 3 Airbus A321 Neo in service this year, with a further 7 in service by 2019. There will be 10 Airbus A320 Neos in service this year, with 15, 20, and 25 in service by 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively. BA also has options for a further 33 Airbus A320 aircraft.
The new Airbus A320 and A321 Neo aircraft are expected to have a different layout of galleys, toilets etc. to BA’s existing fleet. This principal reason for this is that the specification of this aircraft has been done not by BA, but its parent company IAG. It has adopted what it calls a “zero base” approach to specifying this aircraft. In addition, IAG has sought to have as much commonality as possibility for new deliveries of aircraft to all of its subsidiaries (Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling). This is so IAG can take advantage of economies of scale in procurement and move aircraft between airlines in less than a week should commercial demand or economic conditions dictate.
Update: As at November 2018, eight Airbus A320 Neo and one Airbus A321 Neo have been delivered to BA.
Airbus A321 Long Range
This is potentially one to watch.
The single aisle Airbus A321 LR aircraft has a range of 4,000 nautical miles which means it can reach the East Coast of the USA from the UK.
BA’s IAG sibling Aer Lingus has ordered 8 of these aircraft. BA could order this aircraft to launch new services to Africa and the Middle East from London (it has previously suspended Dar Es Salaam, Entebbe and Lusaka) or possibly reinstate transatlantic routes from UK regional airports.
Embraer E-170 and E-190
BA now has 6 Embraer E-170 and 15 Embraer E-190 aircraft in service.
These are operated by its subsidiary BA CityFlyer at London City. At weekends, it also flies leisure routes from London Stansted and Manchester, and Birmingham and Bristol in the summer. Whilst this is unlikely to herald a return to regional airport operations, BA CityFlyer has clearly found a model that works for it.
One sweet spot is that due to an industrial agreement with the BA pilots union the number seats on these aircraft is capped so there is considerably more legroom than at Gatwick or Heathrow.
Also note that BA CityFlyer frequently wet leases aircraft from other airlines to support its operation at London City.
BA has allowed options to acquire a further 15 Embraer E-190 aircraft to expire and no further deliveries are expected.
We receive a lot of enquiries regarding BA’s plans to replace and refurbish its short and long-haul fleet.
We suspect this is, in part, due to the wide variation in the condition of many of its long-haul aircraft in particular!
BA has a conservative approach to fleet expansion and refurbishment. This is unlikely to ever change. Here’s a run through of recent and forthcoming deliveries and refurbishments by aircraft type:
