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Air Pacific's $1.6bn deal
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Air Pacific will purchase five Boeing 787-9 aircraft from a Boeing company in Seattle to boost its fleet
Air Pacific will spend $1.6billion on five Boeing 787-9 from a Boeing aircraft company in Seattle in the United States of America, says chief executive officer John Campbell.
In looking at increasing its fleet, Mr Campbell said the airline would be receiving two aircraft in 2011 and another three in 2012.
Mr Campbell said the order for the aircraft was placed in 2004 but the delivery would be in four years.
"It will mean that all of our wide-bodied aircraft fleet are common so we will utilise one type of spares, a common group of pilots and cabin crew which will provide considerable operational efficiency," Mr Campbell said.
He said the aircraft would be extremely capable and could economically cover flights from as short as two hours to as long as 17 hours.
"This is ideal for our entire current and potential network covering points as close as New Zealand and as far away as South America, China and India non-stop," Mr Campbell said.
He said the aircraft was capable of carrying 20 tonnes of cargo and 320 passengers fully loaded and could cover all international points on their existing network and additional points which were under review.
"The B787-9 is extremely fuel efficient, burning less fuel than the 250 seat B767 and saving around 20 per cent in fuel burn per passenger versus the B747," he said.
He said the airline would almost double its capacity over the next five year with the B787s.
"While the wide bodied aircraft seat capacity will increase by around 36 per cent, operational efficiency of the aircraft will virtually double our seat capacity ensuring ample seat availability for tourism and Fiji residents travel needs," Mr Campbell said.
With delivery of the B787 aircraft, he said they would operate five B787, three B737 and share two ATR42-500 aircraft with Pacific Sun.
"It is probable we will also take another B737 between 2009 and 2011 to accommodate forecast tourism growth to Fiji," he said.
He said the aircraft would be leased on a short term basis.
"At the moment we operate three B737 aircraft, one B767-300 and two B747-400 aircraft and share use of two ATR42-500 aircraft with Pacific Sun."
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