Etihad Airways casts doubt on A320neo, 777X orders

Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi Int’l) is evaluating its options concerning the future of its A321-200N and B777X orders, and has yet to confirm that it will actually take the aircraft, Chief Executive Tony Douglas told Reuters.

“The manufactures can’t confirm when they are going to be delivered and you have a market that you don’t know when it’s going to recover,” he said, underlining that the Emirati flag carrier was now focused on “sustainable growth”.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that Etihad Airways has outstanding orders for twenty-six A321-200Ns, eight B777-8s, and seventeen B777-9s, all dating back to a gigantic deal with both Airbus and Boeing announced during the 2013 Dubai Air Show by Etihad’s previous management, led by James Hogan, which had sought to rapidly expand the airline, including through the acquisition of struggling carriers around the world.

Douglas said Etihad had around three years to decide on the future of the A321neo order and even more time to confirm the B777X order. The newest Boeing widebody type is not expected to certify before mid-2023.

While the order for twenty-six A321neo is a relatively minor position in Airbus’s order book, a B777X cancellation would be a major blow to the American manufacturer as Etihad holds accounts for almost 10% of all orders for the type globally (25 out of 320 in total) and is just one of three customers of the B777-8 variant (alongside regional rivals Emirates with sixteen orders and Qatar Airways with ten).

The airline also has firm orders for fifteen A350-1000s, eleven B787-9s, and twenty-one B787-10s, which seem less in doubt.

Etihad Airways is already an operator of both the A320 and the B777 Families. Its fleet includes twenty A320-200s and ten A321-200s, as well as nineteen B777-300(ER)s and five B777-200Fs.