Originally Posted by FriendlyPilot (Post 3799569)

So the announcement that new hire classes won't start again until July 23rd further fuels the Airbus order rumor theory. This is why.

Kirby is not getting his 350 Max 10 planes, so he's obvoiusly looking elsewhere for a replacement. Obviously the only other comparable plane is the A-321 NEO or XLR.

Airbus said they are trying to get airlines with A-321 orders to defer those orders so they can use them for an airline that needs a large order of A-321s. There is no reason that Airbus would care UNLESS that airline is also ordering a bunch of WB planes, which Airbus does not have a full order book on. Airbus could start delivering new A-350s as soon as 2026 because A-350 production is only full for the next 18 or so months. Spirit and JetBlue have deferred about 150 A-320s and those delivery slots start in September of this year.

What makes this rumor even more interesting is that it was leaked that United would announce the Airbus order at the Farnborough airshow and that the pause in hiring was because they want to make sure that new hires are being trained into the proper plane (Airbus vs 737). Currently almost all the new hires have been hired into the 737.

The date was just released for when new hire classes would start. July 23rd.

Why is this "interesting"? The Farnborough Airshow is July 22nd to July 26th.

Originally Posted by FlyPanAm (Post 3799604)

To add fuel to this rumor, an unidentified customer ordered 51 A321 NEOs in mid April.

Originally Posted by FriendlyPilot (Post 3799569)

Airbus said they are trying to get airlines with A-321 orders to defer those orders so they can use them for an airline that needs a large order of A-321s.

Originally Posted by StoneQOLdCrazy (Post 3799670)

Why in the world would airlines with order slots defer them and potentially bail out a competitor?
Makes no sense.

Originally Posted by StoneQOLdCrazy (Post 3799670)

Why in the world would airlines with order slots defer them and potentially bail out a competitor?
Makes no sense.

Originally Posted by StoneQOLdCrazy (Post 3799670)

Why in the world would airlines with order slots defer them and potentially bail out a competitor?
Makes no sense.

Originally Posted by SoFloFlyer (Post 3799664)

As far as WB, he mentioned that the 350/330s don’t make sense.

Originally Posted by StoneQOLdCrazy (Post 3799670)

Why in the world would airlines with order slots defer them and potentially bail out a competitor?
Makes no sense.

Originally Posted by FriendlyPilot (Post 3799708)

No he didn't. He said only getting 35 didn't make sense. He specifically said we would either get 100 A-350s or zero.

Kirby can't use this to leverage cheaper planes from Boeing, because what good is leverage when Boeing can't deliver the MAX 10, which he wants 250 of. So the obvious solution is replace it with Airbus 321s (we already have 165 on order and 7 on property). The only way to get deals on those is to also get the A-350 which is the 777 A-model replacement plus growth planes.

I didn't know about the "undisclosed" order. But this makes sense it happened around the time the lease deal was being negotiated.

Originally Posted by SoFloFlyer (Post 3799721)

A350s would make the most sense to replace those 777s. I don’t believe the 787s can carry the same amount of cargo and pax as far as the 777 can, but I could be wrong

Kirby did a Q&A at TK a couple of months ago. When asked about the A350s, he said that it didn’t make sense to get them and that it would be expensive to add a new type. Maybe things have changed with the ongoing 787 issue, but that was the last I heard of the topic