mitchja wrote:flyingfox wrote:I knew of the early retirement of the 747 but don’t think I read elsewhere that VS have deferred delivery of the A351;
https://www.executivetraveller.com/news ... nistration
That only says 6 being deferred. I believe VS ordered 12 originally didn’t they?
I read somewhere that 2 have almost reached completion at Airbus right up to painting the exterior and cabin fitting so I would think it’s too late to defer those at such a late stage now.
That means no more after those 2 are delivered though.
Assuming all the A330neo's are delivered, I make that 37 aircraft instead of 36 by 2022...
17x 787's
6x A350's
14x A330-900's
Unless come 2022 there will still be some A330-300's in the fleet along with a few A330-900's?
If they're deferred, VS will be able to take delivery of them in the future if/when things pick up again and they have a need for larger aircraft. The fact they're deferring A350's indicates they are foreseeing a short-to-medium term slump in demand that can be serviced with smaller aircraft.
I wonder if Airbus was lenient on VS given they were one of the co-signatories of a letter calling for government support for VS and in the hope they will take all their A330neo's, an aircraft which isn't as big of a seller to date as the A350's. That said, VS won't be the last airline to negotiate deferrals at this time.
