PIA buying Boeing 787 Dreamliners replacing its 777 order

[airmarshal]

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/...ng-has-deal-to-provide-eight-dreamliners.html

Boeing and Pakistan International Airlines reportedly have a deal for eight 787 Dreamliners
Oct 3, 2016, 3:11pm PDT Updated Oct 3, 2016, 3:27pm PDT

Andrew McIntosh Staff Writer Puget Sound Business Journal
Related Content


In private letter, Boeing CEO urges Pakistan to swap 777 order to 787s

Boeing's pitch to Pakistan for order swap a win for jetmaker: analyst


Boeing is close to selling eight Dreamliner 787s to Pakistan International Airways (PIA) after a high-level lobbying and sales campaign by Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner

Boeing (NYSE: BA) could begin delivering the wide-body jets in mid-2017, according to media and social media reports in Pakistan.

Enlarge
Pakistan International Airways flies several Boeing 777s and uses them to serve airports… more

Pakistan International Airways

Azam Sehgal, the chairman of Pakistan International Airlines, let word of the deal slip during an interview with Tahir Imran, an Urdu-language aviation journalist in Islamabad who contributes to the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Urdu-language news service.

In a recent tweet, Imran said: "Breaking: PIA to get 8 @boeing 787 Dreamliners with deliveries due from mid next year. The chairman just told me exclusively."

Worth at least $1.8 billion at list prices, the new aircraft order would help the airline double its fleet and launch direct service to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Imran later reported

Marc Birtel, an international spokesman for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle, declined to confirm or deny the Pakistan reports.

"Boeing does not comment publicly on customer discussions," Birtel said.

PIA also asked Boeing if the Dreamliner could fly the distance between Lahore/Karachi and Toronto, Canada's largest city and home to a large and affluent Pakistani community. Boeing confirmed the Dreamliner's fuel-efficient features could make that direct flight possible, the Pakistani media reports said.

News of a Boeing Dreamliner purchase by PIA comes after the airline recently announced plans to retire five older Airbus A310 aircraft following this year's Haaj pilgrimage to Mecca season.

Also in mid-August, PIA launched a new specially branded premium flying service between Lahore, Pakistan, and London. Business class travelers get limousine service in London for destinations within 25 miles from the airport as part of that service.

The Pakistan International Airlines deal comes two months after Conner privately wrote to Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif offering to exchange PIA's 2012 order for five 777-300ER jets for Dreamliners in a deal that "could help Pakistan's national airline 'restore' its brand and 'improve its attractiveness for privatization.'"

Conner's letter was leaked on a social media site in Pakistan and a copy was published by The Puget Sound Business Journal.

"Over the past three months, we have worked extensively with PIA to document the business case for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and we are convinced that the 787 can dramatically transform PIA's operations and help it restore profitability," Conner wrote to the Pakistani politician.

"Moreover, this solution also satisfies the interests of strategic investors, who will want to see a realistic, executable turnaround plan," Conner added in is letter to Sharif.

 

[airmarshal]

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/...eings-pitch-to-pakistan-to-swap-777s-for.html

A recent pitch by Boeing Commercial Airplanes boss Ray Conner to Pakistan, offering to swap an order for five 777 jets into a Dreamliner purchase instead, could benefit both the airline and help the jet maker avoid an embarrassing production cut, an aerospace analyst suggests.

In a private letter the Puget Sound Business Journal obtained and published earlier this month, Conner urged Pakistan's Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to convert Pakistan International Airways' existing order for five Boeing 777-300ERs to some new Dreamliners.


Dhierin Bechai is an aerospace engineer and analyst with AeroAnalysis in the Netherlands.

Supplied photo

Conner told the Pakistan prime minister that switching to Dreamliners would make Pakistanis proud to fly their national airline again, but also would restore profitability to the money-losing airline by reducing fuel and maintenance costs on the jets. This would help PIA prepare for privatization, Conner added.

In a recent analysis that Netherlands based analyst Dhierin Bechai wrote about the Conner letter published here, he suggested Boeing (NYSE: BA) had more than PIA's best interests at heart when it proposed the order swap.

Conner was thinking about Boeing's own Dreamliner production lines, Bechai suggested.

"The letter tells it all," Bechai said.

"To me, the letter is a sign that Boeing is trying to fill delivery slots for the Boeing 787 so that it can increase rates to 14 per month, in the best case, and in the worst case, be able to fill up slots that are freed up now. I think the letter is a sign of Boeing preparing itself for another (production) rate cut, where it is aggressively trying to convert 777 orders to orders for the Dreamliner," Bechai wrote.

"In times where Boeing has been discounting the Boeing 777-300ER to increase its attractiveness and fill the big holes in the production (line), this letter seems to be very odd." Bechai added. "To me it is also clear that Boeing is not really concerned about PIA to the extent it claims in the letter, but is trying to facilitate a swap here that benefits their own plans."

Though Boeing has its own agenda, Bechai said such a deal remains good for Pakistan's national carrier.

The Dreamliner is better suited for PIA's fleet and would really help the airline cut costs, Bechai explained.

The analyst emphasized that PIA's own challenges and difficulties stretch beyond the airline's fleet, though, and plague "management layers of the company."

Conner's letter to Pakistan's prime minister emerged just before Indian airline Jet Airways asked Boeing to postpone delivery of its order for 10 new Dreamliners for two years.

Bechai's report suggests Boeing will announce a 777 production cut within six months.

******************************************************************************************************

Then I saw this dreadful video and understood why Boeing is having problems getting orders for 787.

Since our decision makers have little conscience, this flawed deal will be sold to Pakistanis as a 'vision' of their PM.

 

[ConcealCarry]

PIA should buy what suits its operational needs, we don't have to oblige and try to save a sinking ship. By the way 8 dreamliners remind me of 8 Vipers that evaporated like a dream. Screw Boeing, PIA should buy Airbus.

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/...eings-pitch-to-pakistan-to-swap-777s-for.html

A recent pitch by Boeing Commercial Airplanes boss Ray Conner to Pakistan, offering to swap an order for five 777 jets into a Dreamliner purchase instead, could benefit both the airline and help the jet maker avoid an embarrassing production cut, an aerospace analyst suggests.

In a private letter the Puget Sound Business Journal obtained and published earlier this month, Conner urged Pakistan's Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to convert Pakistan International Airways' existing order for five Boeing 777-300ERs to some new Dreamliners.


Dhierin Bechai is an aerospace engineer and analyst with AeroAnalysis in the Netherlands.

Supplied photo

Conner told the Pakistan prime minister that switching to Dreamliners would make Pakistanis proud to fly their national airline again, but also would restore profitability to the money-losing airline by reducing fuel and maintenance costs on the jets. This would help PIA prepare for privatization, Conner added.

In a recent analysis that Netherlands based analyst Dhierin Bechai wrote about the Conner letter published here, he suggested Boeing (NYSE: BA) had more than PIA's best interests at heart when it proposed the order swap.

Conner was thinking about Boeing's own Dreamliner production lines, Bechai suggested.

"The letter tells it all," Bechai said.

"To me, the letter is a sign that Boeing is trying to fill delivery slots for the Boeing 787 so that it can increase rates to 14 per month, in the best case, and in the worst case, be able to fill up slots that are freed up now. I think the letter is a sign of Boeing preparing itself for another (production) rate cut, where it is aggressively trying to convert 777 orders to orders for the Dreamliner," Bechai wrote.

"In times where Boeing has been discounting the Boeing 777-300ER to increase its attractiveness and fill the big holes in the production (line), this letter seems to be very odd." Bechai added. "To me it is also clear that Boeing is not really concerned about PIA to the extent it claims in the letter, but is trying to facilitate a swap here that benefits their own plans."

Though Boeing has its own agenda, Bechai said such a deal remains good for Pakistan's national carrier.

The Dreamliner is better suited for PIA's fleet and would really help the airline cut costs, Bechai explained.

The analyst emphasized that PIA's own challenges and difficulties stretch beyond the airline's fleet, though, and plague "management layers of the company."

Conner's letter to Pakistan's prime minister emerged just before Indian airline Jet Airways asked Boeing to postpone delivery of its order for 10 new Dreamliners for two years.

Bechai's report suggests Boeing will announce a 777 production cut within six months.

******************************************************************************************************

Then I saw this dreadful video and understood why Boeing is having problems getting orders for 787.

Since our decision makers have little conscience, this flawed deal will be sold to Pakistanis as a 'vision' of their PM.

 

[cloud4000]

PIA should buy what suits its operational needs, we don't have to oblige and try to save a sinking ship. By the way 8 dreamliners remind me of 8 Vipers that evaporated like a dream. Screw Boeing, PIA should buy Airbus.

What are you talking about? What do F-16s have to do with 787s?

 

[Thəorətic Muslim]

the new aircraft order would help the airline double its fleet

Wow 8 planes will double PIA?

Then I saw this dreadful video and understood why Boeing is having problems getting orders for 787.

The costs and fuel efficiencies make up for for ~190 mile lower range and fewer seats.

But would it have been better to wait a few more years until the jet meets Japanese/US/EU standards? Yes.