LATAM Orders 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners With Options For 5 More

LATAM Airlines has ordered 15 Boeing 787-9 aircraft, with the order being split between ten firm and five optional purchases.

Adding more 787s

In an announcement on October 28, Boeing said that LATAM Airlines has ordered ten 787-9, with options for five more, with the already-largest 787 operator in the region adding more aircraft of the type to its backlog.

The manufacturer pointed out that LATAM Airlines should expand its 787 fleet to 52 aircraft by 2030, with the airline already operating 37 Boeing twin-aisles of the type: ten 787-8 and 27 787-9.

14 of the 787-9s are operated by the group’s Brazilian subsidiary, LATAM Airlines Brazil, ch-aviation data showed.

Ramiro Alfonsín, the chief financial officer (CFO) of LATAM Airlines, said that the 787 was a much more efficient aircraft, enabling the group to continue growing its operations sustainably.

“This order will enable us to receive at least two aircraft of this model each year from 2025 until the end of the decade.”

Resuming deliveries

Currently, all 37 LATAM Airlines 787s are equipped with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. However, neither the manufacturer nor the carrier detailed the type of engines the newly ordered 787s would be delivered with.

Ch-aviation data indicated that the airline’s last 787 delivery was on September 1, 2023, with the aircraft, a 787-9, registered as CC-BGQ, being moved to LATAM Airlines Brazil on December 15, 2023.

In general, LATAM Airlines has only taken delivery of two 787s in the past few years. Boeing handed over the other 787-9 in July 2023.

Before that, the airline took delivery of three 787-9s in 2019, which preceded its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings that it had voluntarily begun in May 2020. The group emerged from bankruptcy in November 2022, with the case being closed in June 2023, when the United States Supreme Court decided not to review the final appeals filed against judgments in the case.

In July, LATAM Airlines’ shares were once again available to trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and on October 22, the group rang the opening bell of the NYSE.

At the event, Ignacio Cueto, the chairman of LATAM Airlines, said that the day marked a new chapter in the group’s history.

“A chapter in which we aim to lead, innovate, and grow in ways that positively impact our customers, the communities we serve, the markets we compete in, and the world at large.”

Crucial deliveries

While the strike by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District Lodge 751 and District W24 has dragged on since September 13 after the machinists rejected the latest tentative agreement (TA), Boeing has continued producing the 787.

That was because the aircraft was assembled at the company’s non-unionized South Carolina site. According to Boeing, as of September 30, it produced four 787s per month, with the company being on target to increase that rate to five monthly by the end of 2024.

With Boeing 737, 767, and 777 deliveries being paused due to the strike, the manufacturer has delivered four 787-10 in September, its filings showed.

Ch-aviation data pointed out that the company delivered three more 787s in October: two 787-10 (one to British Airways on October 22, one to Korean Air on October 1), and one 787-9 to Shanghai Airlines on October 19.

16 more Boeing 787s should be delivered to airlines soon, with ch-aviation estimating that the manufacturer should hand over the aircraft in October. However, delivery delays, including supply chain-related issues, could have derailed those plans.

Out of the 16, ten aircraft already have their operator registrations. Three of them have been in Boeing’s inventory for a long time.

An Oman Air 787-9, registered as A40-SL, operated its first flight on June 22, 2022, while a Shanghai Airlines 787-9, registered as B-220G, did so on March 6, 2021. A Vietnam Airlines 787-10, registered as VN-A877, took off on its first flight on March 30, 2021.

Brian West, the chief financial officer (CFO) and executive vice president of finance, said during the company’s Q3 earnings call that the manufacturer still had 30 787s built before 2023 in inventory, down five quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).