United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) is reportedly scouting for replacements for their ageing B767 and B777 fleets. According to Airline Weekly, United executives, speaking at a town hall-style meeting earlier this month, said they were "looking at widebody requirements and opportunities now and may have recommendations later this year."
The ch-aviation fleets module reveals the airline has fifty-four B767 aircraft, including thirty-eight B767-300ERs, and sixteen B767-400ERs. The average age of the B767-300(ER) fleet is 26.6 years and the average age of the B767-400(ER) fleet is 21 years.
United Airlines also has ninety-six B777s, including nineteen B777-200s (average age 25.5 years), fifty-five B777-200ERs (average age 22.5 years), and a fleet of twenty-two B777-300ERs with an average age of just 4.7 years. Other widebodies in its fleet include thirteen B787-10s, twelve B787-8s, and thirty-eight B787-9s.
Many carriers typically start retiring their planes once they enter their third decade of flying. But with a long delivery lead time, United Airlines faces a potential problem given their thin widebody order book. Manufacturer's data reveals United has just one widebody jet due from Boeing - a B787-10, and forty-five A350-900s outstanding at Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac).
After a rush of interest in smaller jets during the pandemic, Airbus and Boeing both report increasing interest in their widebody aircraft types. A spate of fresh orders combined with already long wait times and ongoing supply chain issues mean United may be forced to keep flying their B767s and B777s well beyond industry norms.
The unnamed United executives said while the B787-10 was a viable candidate to replace the B777s if Boeing delivers on a promised performance upgrade to the type, including increasing the maximum takeoff weight of the aircraft up to 572,000lb from the current 560,000lb, which would boost its payload and/or range and make the plane a viable substitute on United's transpacific routes where the older B777s currently fly.
Replacing the B767s reportedly presents as a trickier situation for United, with the executives telling the meeting it was a “difficult airplane to replace." They say the performance capabilities of two possible candidates, the A330-800N and B787-8, exceed what is required to service most of the B767's present routes. With an average age of over 26 years, United's B767-300(ER)s frequently operate thinner transatlantic routes such Washington Dulles to Geneva and New York Newark to Nice, and are the airline's oldest sub fleet.
