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British Airways orders six more Boeing 787-10 aircraft

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Anyone following British Airways closely might be left wondering how they hope to return to pre-pandemic capacity with fewer aircraft than they had in 2019. British Airways still remains 23 aircraft short of where it was four years ago.

BA management have clearly had the same thought and exercised options to order a further six Boeing 787-10 aircraft to be delivered in 2025 and 2026.

Currently BA has seven 787-10s in its fleet, with five more still to be delivered under the original order. The follow-on order for six more will take the overall 787-10 fleet to 18 and will be an important part of reinstating premium seat capacity across BA’s network thanks to their premium-heavy configuration. The aircraft have eight seats in First Class, 48 Club Suites, 35 in World Traveller Plus premium economy and 165 seats in economy.

There’s a chance, given the delivery timelines, that the add-on order may feature the new First Class seat that Sean Doyle teased recently.

Other snippets from IAG’s 2023 First Half results include:

  • Iberia is currently IAG’s best-performing airline. Margins have increased by 10% since 2019, and now stand at 18% thanks to exceptionally strong demand in Spain. Pre-pandemic, BA was always the best performing airline in the group.
  • Q3 seats are currently 80% sold – albeit we are now at the end of July so this clearly skews the maths!
  • Q4 is currently 30% sold and this is described as ‘typical’, implying that demand patterns are returning to pre-covid levels
  • Capacity across the group should return to about 97% of 2019 levels as the airlines continue to recover (and regrow)
  • British Airways and American Airlines dominate the transatlantic market, with 54% capacity of flights to North America. Virgin and Delta come in second, with 22%.
  • The BA Euroflyer operation at Gatwick will grow from 18 aircraft this summer to 26 aircraft in 2024. The 348 weekly slots currently leased to easyJet and Vueling will start to be clawed back.
  • American Express paid IAG £286 million in the first half of the year, up 76% on H1 2019
  • On the redemption side, 25% more Avios were redeemed than at this time in 2019
  • Net debt remains a chunky €7.6 billion although no major repayments are due until 2026

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (41)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Sapiens says:
    29 Jul29 July 04:51

    Qatar opened a new One World ‘frequent flier’ Sapphire / Emerald lounge at DOH’s C gates. This is in addition to the one at the A gates and obviously separate from the new lounge for business class passengers.

    It’s exceptionally/frighteningly good, with a la carte dining and Laurent Perrier.

    • Bervios says:
      29 Jul29 July 09:51

      Whatever happened to the news mentioned in Rob’s Doha airport review earlier in the year. Was something about an exclusive feature of the new AM garden lounge ? Did I miss it ?

      • Chris W says:
        29 Jul29 July 10:10

        Louis Vuitton lounge

        • Bagoly says:
          29 Jul29 July 17:14

          I remember “some people will detour to DOH specifically”
          For a pay-to-eat premium lounge with branding from a non-food company??
          Well possibly, but I think Rob is more immune to branding hype than that.
          More likely the embargo on the r*******k is yet to expire?

      • Michael says:
        29 Jul29 July 10:18

        The new LV lounge and Dior spa if I’m not mistaken

        • Andrew says:
          30 Jul30 July 15:39

          The LV lounge is a dud. Drastically overhyped, a bit of a misstep for all involved.

  • Patrick says:
    29 Jul29 July 05:59

    “American Express paid IAG £286 million in the first half of the year, up 76% on H1 2019“ That’s quite something isn’t it – I assume this is when they buy Avios to give to card holders?

    • George W says:
      29 Jul29 July 10:59

      Sort of. Amex MRs can convert into Avios (and many other things) – but also possibly as part of signup bonuses for BA branded Amex cards.
      Amex plat in the Netherlands has just announced a reduction in MRs earned per €, from 1.5 to 1, which is quite a devaluation. Maybe it’s related to the amount Amex had to pay IAG.

      • Patrick says:
        29 Jul29 July 11:22

        In Spain the Platinum only earns 1:1 €:MR. They frequently had a 20% bonus for MR to iberia plus transfer so wasn’t too far off the U.K. BAPP 1.5 rate given the €/£ exchange rate, but they’ve not run the promotion for over a year now. U.K. platinum is 1:1 if I’m not mistaken? The iberia icon credit card in Spain has recently dropped from an already poor 1 Avios per 2€ to 1 Avios per 3€.

  • Qrfan says:
    29 Jul29 July 06:54

    Any idea when that new Finnair seat is coming to the Dubai route?

  • Robert says:
    29 Jul29 July 08:03

    Where is good to redeem a 2-4-1 voucher when your using it for the sake of not loosing it? Looking at south of France or NYC for 3 nights. Any other recommmendations?

    • Peter K says:
      29 Jul29 July 08:47

      Worth asking this on the forum. You’ll get lots more answers on there 😊

  • @mkcol says:
    29 Jul29 July 08:41

    Will the new 787s have bunks though?

    • Nick says:
      29 Jul29 July 08:51

      At the moment, they’re planned to have the same config as the others. There aren’t enough to have a reliable subfleet and it’s a very expensive non-standard modification from Boeing on the -10, which is clearly also going to influence the decision.

      • Opus says:
        29 Jul29 July 10:18

        I’ve heard they will come with bunks and the in-fleet/original order will be refurbished? I don’t know though, it was just a rumor

    • Kowalski says:
      29 Jul29 July 20:24

      What are bunks?

  • Nick says:
    29 Jul29 July 08:55

    I recently flew the new AY business cabin on longhaul, it’s genuinely fantastic – I’d go as far as to say it’s the best business seat flying anywhere imo. Mainly because of the comfiness of the bed and the huge space you get to sleep in. The soft product is less good, one meal was decent but the others were rubbish. Drinks good though, and crew/service as it should be.

    • Guido says:
      29 Jul29 July 10:12

      I had a chance to compare the AY old versus new business class seat when I had the old one HEL-BKK and the new seat back from BKK-HEL. I have to say I am a fan of the new seat and think it is a real improvement over the old one, in more respects than just the sleeping arrangement. And I also agree with Nick on meals. The return from BKK was fine, but the HEL-BKK meals were pretty awful. Can’t stand the sight of any more beans!

    • Paul says:
      30 Jul30 July 11:46

      Yeah I agree. I have recently flown both to BKK and prefer the new seat. The soft product is really poor. Both food and drink have gone downhill. Fortunately my flight from HEL was daytime so I had lunch in the lounge prior to boarding

  • ayearinmx says:
    29 Jul29 July 09:02

    I’ll be honest, I didn’t enjoy the AY seat as an actual seat, which is what I used it for from LHR-HEL…however as a bed it seems to have a lot more space

  • Julian says:
    29 Jul29 July 09:30

    I am still a fan of the older Finnair business class seat.
    Flew back into LHR in May from Helsinki.
    In regards of the meal you only got one option.
    It was ok.
    Seems that in November an A330 with operate the LHR – Helsinki route for a short time.

    • riku says:
      29 Jul29 July 10:47

      I hate the old A350 business class seat on Finnair. There is a huge lump on the floor for some reason getting in the way of putting your feet on the floor and then a massive airbag lump on the seat belt which is really annoying if you like to keep the seatbelt on for the whole flight.

      • Doug M says:
        29 Jul29 July 11:03

        Agree on the airbag. Much prefer the shoulder belt which you only have to wear at take off and landing.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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