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United Airlines’ recent order for more Boeing 787-9s reflects the airline seeking to lock in its growth opportunity amid a backdrop of sliding aircraft deliveries. The Star Alliance carrier earlier this month placed an order for 50 further Dreamliners, together with another for 60 more Airbus A321neos for delivery from 2028 onwards. Speaking during United’s third quarter results call on 18 October, the airline’s chief financial officer Michael Leskinen said: "With the delays in the supply chain, they’ve become persistent. And so part of what we’re doing is controlling skyline for a longer period of time than we have historically. "This industry has been an industry that has in the past gone from putting out fire to fire and [our] United Next strategy is putting us on a firmer footing to plan for the longer term. The contractual delivery dates, they’ve been pushing to the right. And we’ll probably continue to see that. And you see us – as you see us playing internally, we’ll have some expectation of continued slipping,” he says. ”But make no mistake, we will make adjustments to the order book and the delivery times in a way that maximises the returns to our shareholders.” United’s CCO Andrew Nocella adds that the fresh widebody order also reflects the carrier’s confidence in its strategy to continue growing its international business in the long-term. ”It’s really our confidence in our plan, but its particularly our confidence that we are going to increasingly pivot in the latter part of the decade to global growth and not domestic growth,” he says. ”So we secured those positions, we are confident we will use them.” He points to the likely retirement of its Boeing 767s ”at some point” later this decade. ”So with the number of retirements we have, the confidence in our plan – and some of the OEM issues – it just made sense,” Nocella says. ”2028 and beyond is a long time away, but we are really confident in the plan, confident of global growth, we will have to lean into that and we want to lean into that in the latter part of the decade,” he adds.<br/>

Portugal will decide on the size of the stake it will sell in flag carrier TAP once competitors present their proposals, Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba told a parliamentary committee on Thursday. The Portuguese government plans to sell at least 51% of TAP as part of a plan to privatise the struggling state-owned airline. It believes finding a private buyer can ensure the brand name is preserved while boosting the company's performance. Portugal wants prospective bidders to put a value on TAP's strategic routes to the Portuguese-speaking world, including countries such as Brazil, Angola and Mozambique, Galamba told a parliamentary committee "Before we know the concrete proposals of competitors and any future improvements to these proposals, we cannot define the exact stake (of TAP) that will be sold," Galamba said. He said that the government will appoint financial advisors soon and plans to approve the privatisation by year-end, with the process concluding by mid-2024. The airline's privatisation has attracted interest from Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways owner IAG. "TAP is one of the last independent flag carriers, due to the consolidation trend in Europe, and today has the unique opportunity to choose its long-term partner," Galamba said.<br/>

Asiana Airlines, Korea's second-largest air carrier, plans to decide on whether to sell its cargo business later this month, as Korean Air seeks to win antitrust approval from European Union (EU) regulators for its takeover of the rival, industry sources said Friday. Asiana is set to hold a board meeting on Oct. 30 to make a decision on the planned sale of its cargo business, the sources said on the condition of anonymity. The EU antitrust regulators have raised concerns that Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana may restrict competition in the markets for passenger and cargo air transport services between the EU and Korea. Korean Air said it plans to submit formal remedies to address such concerns to the European Commission (EC), the EU's executive body, by the end of the month. It is widely believed that the sale of Asiana's cargo business and a plan to return landing slots for four European cities will be included. Korean Air said it is "working closely with the EC and will submit formal remedies by the end of the month as requested by the authority to address the concerns." The upcoming Asiana board meeting is expected to be watched closely by stakeholders and EU regulators, as it could potentially make or break the acquisition deal that has been pursued for the past three years. Even if Asiana Airlines board decides to sell the cargo business, the immediate approval of the merger by the European Commission is not guaranteed, but the chances of obtaining a conditional merger approval are expected to increase.<br/>