From ATW Online
Wednesday June 18, 2008
Qantas's interest in the 777-300ER as a partial replacement for its 747-400 fleet is growing, Australian media are reporting. QF has 20 A380s on order for key routes such as Los Angeles and London Heathrow, but flights to destinations such as Tokyo Narita, San Francisco, Johannesburg and Frankfurt will not justify the A380, at least initially. CEO Geoff Dixon last week acknowledged to media that he would like the 777-300ER "right now" in order to combat fuel prices.
Qantas has come close on a number of occasions to ordering the 777, first the -200ER in the late 1990s and more recently the -200LR. Now the -300ER is flavor of the month. It has been searching the lease market for some time but the price for -300ERs has soared recently while availability has contracted. Boeing is under pressure to up the production rate from the current seven a month and the delay in the 787--for which QF is the largest airline customer--is adding to that pressure. It currently holds options on 40 787s and observers are suggesting it may convert up to 20 of those to 777-300ERs.