China Airlines (CI, Taipei Taoyuan) has placed orders with Airbus and Boeing for new-generation widebody aircraft, comprising ten A350-1000s, ten B777-9s, and four B777-8Fs. The airline said that deliveries will begin in 2029, although it did not specify the exact timeline per type.
The carrier said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing that the entire transaction would be valued at up to USD11.9 billion. Each of the B777-9s will cost up to USD530 million, each of the A350s up to USD448 million, and each of the B777 freighters up to USD519 million.
The A350s will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, while the B777s will be powered by General Electric GE9X engines. Both passenger types will be outfitted with three-class cabins, but the airline did not detail the number of seats. It did not disclose whether the new passenger widebody would replace any of the existing aircraft. China Airlines' widebody passenger fleet currently includes sixteen A330-300s, fifteen A350-900s, and ten B777-300(ER)s. Earlier reports said that the new order would be for the replacement of the B777-300ERs.
It has a preexisting firm order for eighteen B787-9s and six B787-10s from Boeing.
The carrier said it also acquired four GE9X-105B1A backup engines and three XWB-97 backup engines in direct transactions from the respective manufacturers.
In terms of the freighter order, China Airlines specified that the four B777-8Fs will be incremental to the existing B777 freighter fleet. The airline operates nine B777-200Fs and has one more unit of the type on order from Boeing. Its freighter fleet also comprises eight B747-400FSCDs, although the carrier is gradually exiting the quadjets in favour of the B777s.
