United Airlines is purchasing at least 100 Boeing Dreamliners to replace its aging wide-body aircraft

United Airlines is purchasing 100 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and has the option to purchase an additional 100 new jets. These new planes will fly the airline’s longest routes and will replace decades-old planes that use less fuel.

United has returned to profitability following the pandemic’s travel slump, and the massive order is a significant boost for Boeing from one of its largest customers. Due to a rise in demand, the airline has recently added more international flights.

According to United, it was the largest wide-body sale ever made to a U.S. airline.

The order includes approximately 100 Dreamliners that will take the place of Boeing 767s and a few of its Boeing 777s. Boeing aircraft make up the entirety of United’s wide-body fleet, which is based in Chicago. The Dreamliners are supposed to be conveyed somewhere in the range of 2024 and 2032, Joined said.

Scott Kirby, CEO of United, stated that purchasing more Boeing 787s was simpler than purchasing Airbus’s rival A350 wide-body aircraft.

“In this world where we’re trying to bring on 2,500 pilots a year and grow the airline, introducing a new fleet type slows that down dramatically,” he said on a call with reporters. “And the truth is the 787 is a better replacement for the [767] because it’s smaller.”

According to a security filing, United had 63 Dreamliners in its fleet at the end of last year, and it is expected to have nearly 70 by 2023. When manufacturing flaws forced Boeing to pause deliveries until this past summer, United, like other airlines, was left without new jets for months.

This year, prices have gone up because of a lack of planes and a lack of workers in the supply chain.

People who are familiar with the situation say that United gave the order to pilots for the first time this fall.

Following the order, the airline estimated its adjusted capital expenditures at approximately $9 billion next year and $11 billion in 2024 in a securities filing early Tuesday. The airline’s executives did not specify exactly how the planes will be paid for.

“We will have the luxury of actually using our own cash flow to pay for these aircraft or finance them to the extent that we find capital markets financing attractive,” United’s CFO Gerry Laderman said on the media call.

United already has an order for close to 300 new Boeing and Airbus single aisle planes, which it placed last year. The airline is also making 56 additional purchases of narrow-body Boeing 737 Max planes and exercising options for 44 more.