British Airways orders Airbus A380s and Boeing 787s

British Airways today placed an order for 12 Airbus A380 and 24 Boeing 787 aircraft with options for a further seven Airbus A380s and18 Boeing 787s. Both aircraft types will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines.

The new aircraft will replace 34 of the airline's longhaul fleet and will be delivered between 2010 and 2014. The order, including options, will give the airline the ability to grow its capacity by up to 4% per year.

The new aircraft benefit from new technologies and consequently will be greener, quieter and more fuel efficient with significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions.

Willie Walsh, British Airways' chief executive, said, "This is an exciting day for British Airways with our largest fleet order since 1998. It's great news for our business, our customers and the environment."

"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% between 2005 and 2025."

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

The Airbus A380 will be used to provide more capacity for the airline's key high-density markets and maximise use of scarce Heathrow slots. The Boeing 787, also known as the Dreamliner, will be used to start new routes and increase frequencies in existing markets.

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

The new aircraft will replace 20 of the airline's B747-400s and its 14 longhaul B767 fleet. The total list price for the firm orders is US$8.2 billion for the airframe and engines.

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