China Aircraft Leasing has received two Boeing 787s, converted from earlier orders for 737 Max aircraft.
The lessor says these are the first widebody aircraft in its orderbook. They were delivered to an Asian airline last month and this month, in line with earlier expectations that these would arrive by the end of 2019.
The operator is likely to be Bamboo Airways, based on a 8 January Twitter post by Boeing Commercial Airplanes stating that CALC’s first 787-9 joined the carrier’s fleet “via lease”.
CALC’s chief executive, Mike Poon says: “A strong order book is the driving force behind CALC’s sustainable business growth. CALC maintains strong relationship with OEMs by placing continuous and consistent order.”
“Our first direct purchase of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner not only proves CALC’s notable capability in optimising our diversified fleet portfolio, but also further bolsters CALC’s asset management capability in handling the full life cycle of wide-body aircraft, sharpening CALC’s full value chain solutions and fleet upgrade capability.”
The order for the 787 aircraft was announced last November, as a supplemental agreement to two master purchase agreements signed in 2017 and 2018.
Under the earlier agreements, CALC had in its orderbook 100 737 Max aircraft scheduled for delivery by 2023. The supplemental agreement adds two 787s to its orderbook while reducing the number of 737 Max orders to 92.
Cirium fleets data shows that CALC has six other widebodies in its managed fleet – four Airbus A330s operated by Air China and another two by Iberia.
