British Airways Won’t Get Its First Boeing 777X Until 2026

British Airways

IATA/ICAO Code

BA/BAW

Airline Type

Full Service Carrier

Hub(s)

London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport

Year Founded

1974

Alliance

oneworld

Airline Group

IAG

CEO

Sean Doyle

Country

United Kingdom

Following delays to the Boeing 777X program, British Airways owner IAG has now confirmed that expected deliveries of the type have been pushed further back. A quarterly results update revealed that British Airways is now expecting 777X deliveries between 2026 and 2028.

Boeing’s initial 777X timeline saw the aircraft already in revenue service by now. However, the program has been affected by several setbacks, from a delayed first flight to more onerous certification requirements. Boeing expects certification of the type in late 2024, with airline deliveries starting in early 2025.

BA’s delivery date is pushed back

In 2019, IAG revealed that British Airways would take its first Boeing 777X in 2022, per the original certification laid out by Boeing. In 2021, Boeing pushed certification back to 2023, with IAG updating its delivery window to 2024-2027.

Of course, with Boeing pushing the first deliveries of the 777X to 2025 around three months ago, this means that the 2024 deliveries wouldn’t be met, even if British Airways had slots at the front of the delivery queue. Hidden in its 2nd quarter results presentation, IAG revealed that its 18 firm Boeing 777X orders are now expected to be delivered between 2026 and 2028, a later but shorter window than before. The British flag carrier has options for 24 more 777Xs, meaning it could take up to 42 of the widebody.

Better news for the Boeing 787-10

British Airways has ten outstanding orders for the Boeing 787-10. Just two aircraft were delivered to the carrier between June 28th and July 1st, 2020. No additional aircraft were delivered before Dreamliner deliveries were halted altogether over a year ago.

While Boeing hasn’t delivered a 787 in over a year, it is confident that deliveries will be able to resume before too long. Clearly, IAG shares this view with its updated 787-10 delivery outlook. The remaining ten aircraft are now expected to be delivered between 2022 and 2024. Several aircraft are already ready to go as soon as deliveries resume. British Airways has options for six further 787-10s.

What other aircraft is IAG expecting?

Per the presentation, IAG has 119 firm orders outstanding, alongside 146 options. A further 87 firm orders and 150 options are subject to shareholder approval, including the Boeing 737 MAX order. The remaining firm orders not subject to shareholder approval all come from Boeing’s rival Airbus. These are for all IAG airlines combined, not just British Airways, unlike the 777X and 787-10.

Orders still subject to shareholder approval are as follows,

What do you make of the delayed delivery timeline for British Airways’ Boeing 777X aircraft? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!