Cathay 777x
Cathay Pacific (CX/CPA) has announced that it will defer deliveries of its brand-new Boeing 777-9X aircraft to “beyond 2025”, meaning the carrier will not receive the new 777X for at least the next five years.
- Cathay Pacific The 777X is Boeing's newest family of twin-aisle airplanes that builds on the passenger-preferred and market-leading 777 and 787 families. The Boeing 777X will deliver unmatched performance, exceptional profitability and industry leading reliability.
- Either way Cathay Pacific is fighting a years worth of COVID-19 downturn, on-top of the violent protests that rocked Hong Kong. Last year the airline flew just under 40,000 passengers, which shows a 98.7 percent reduction compared to 2019. Passenger load factor has also been drastically reduced, dropping from 85.5 percent to 18.4 percent.
Cathay Pacific becomes Asia's first 777X customer On December 20, 2013 Cathay Pacific announced its decision to become Asia’s first 777X customer with orders for 21 777-9X airplanes, as part of Cathay’s future long-haul fleet strategy. The order is valued at more than $7 billion at current list prices. Cathay Pacific was one of the first airlines to place orders for the Boeing 777X. The airline has an order for 21 of the 777-9. However, while the first of the 777Xs was initially due to be delivered this summer, the program faced delays only taking its first flight this January.
The carrier was originally supposed to take delivery of its order for 21 aircraft between 2021 and 2024, however has decided to defer the orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting collapse in travel demand. This has been especially tough for Cathay, which had already faced significant issues pre-pandemic due to the Hong Kong protests, competition from other carriers and other business issues.
Some speculate that the carrier may cancel its entire order for the 777X in order to save money on delivery costs, and instead simply make do with its current fleet, which is still relatively young. Like other airlines, Cathay Pacific has been trying to defer deliveries of new aircraft orders. Fortunately for the airline, Boeing has been relatively cooperative in allowing deferrals during the pandemic, although some carriers are still scheduled to take delivery of new planes like the 777X on schedule.
Cathay 777x Flight
Since the aircraft will not be delivered for at least another five years, this means that Cathay Pacific will be delaying its new first and business class products for at least five years as well. The carrier had originally planned to debut the new cabins on the 777-9, however, with the order deferred and no plans to retrofit existing aircraft, Cathay Pacific’s new premium cabins will be put on hold for now.
Cathay Pacific 777x Business Class
Cathay 777x Economy
Featured image courtesy of Boeing