BRENDAN SOBIE / TOKYO
Airline resists lobbying by Boeing to make early launch commitment but will reconsider after shareholders meeting
Japan Airlines (JAL) is expected to delay ordering the 7E7 until at least mid-year after the carrier rejected Boeing's plea to place an early launch commitment.
JAL issued a request for proposals (RFP) in October for Airbus A300 and Boeing 767 replacements. Japanese industry sources say Boeing submitted a proposal for the 7E7 with special board approval in November and lobbied heavily for a positive response before its 15 December board meeting.
But JAL decided against placing any orders in December, which would have allowed Boeing to formally approve authority to offer (ATO) the new aircraft and launch the programme at the same time. Instead JAL let the Boeing offer expire, forcing the manufacturer to decide on ATO without the desired launch order. Boeing's board, confident that launch orders can be secured over the next several months, approved the ATO request anyway.
JAL is expected to wait at least a few more months before reconsidering the 7E7 and potentially issuing another RFP. Sources say the airline does not want to begin paying for a new aircraft yet because its fiscal 2003 financials have been affected by the downturn in international traffic driven by the SARS virus. JAL's fiscal year ends on 31 March, but sources say approval for any 7E7 order is unlikely to occur before a shareholder meeting scheduled for late June.
All Nippon Airways is believed to be delaying a potential launch order because of its financial situation. The carrier is looking at the short-range version of the 7E7 for domestic services, but has not yet issued an RFP.
Source: Flight International
