United converted previous options and purchase rights into firm orders for 50
'We're building a bright future at United and this order takes our already successful United Next plan into the next decade and beyond,' said United CEO
United expects to take delivery of about 800 new narrowbody and widebody aircraft between 2023 and the end of 2032.
Larger Aircraft to More Places
A key component of the United Next plan is growth in gauge, essentially flying larger planes with more available seats on the same route. Given that United currently operates out of the largest markets in the country -
In 2019, United averaged 104 seats per North American departure, among the lowest in the industry. By 2027, United expects that number to jump more than 40% to over 145. United now has 180 A321neo and over 370 737 MAX aircraft on firm order through 2030, a combination that will drive the average seats per departure even higher on these larger aircraft, with even lower anticipated per-seat costs.
Fleet Flexibility
United's latest aircraft order starts at the end of the decade and can be used for fleet growth or replacement, depending on the demand and the economic climate at the time. And from a widebody perspective, the 50 incremental 787-9s that United ordered today will allow the airline to further simplify its international fleet - another benefit to customers and employees as well as an area of cost savings.
United is already the largest carrier across the
New Customer Amenities and Lower Carbon Emissions
The new aircraft in today's order will have the same customer amenities, technological innovations and fuel efficiency benefits as previous United Next narrowbody and widebody orders. For narrowbodies, these include seatback screens in every seat, enough overhead room for everyone's carry-on, Bluetooth connectivity, and fast Wi-Fi. And each new widebody features United Polaris business class, where customers get their own pod with a lie-flat seats and 16-inch seatback screens. The airline recently announced new business class amenity products and services from Therabody and
Plus, these new aircraft will continue to reduce United's per-seat carbon emissions compared to the older models they replace, in line with the airline's expectation to be net zero by 2050 by reducing GHG emissions 100% without relying on traditional carbon offsets. According to
United expects that 75% of its fleet will be new-generation by 2030.
About United
At United, Good Leads The Way. With
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains certain 'forward-looking statements,' within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act, relating to, among other things, the potential impacts of the Company's aircraft orders, including on the Company's financial targets, route and capacity plans and emissions-related targets, and the Company's financial targets. Such forward-looking statements are based on historical performance and current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the Company's future financial results, goals, plans, commitments, strategies and objectives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and uncertainties, known or unknown, including internal or external factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond the Company's control and could cause the Company's future financial results, goals, plans, commitments, strategies and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. Words such as 'should,' 'could,' 'would,' 'will,' 'may,' 'expects,' 'plans,' 'intends,' 'anticipates,' 'indicates,' 'remains,' 'believes,' 'estimates,' 'projects,' 'forecast,' 'guidance,' 'outlook,' 'goals,' 'targets,' 'pledge', 'confident', 'optimistic', 'dedicated', 'positioned' and other words and terms of similar meaning and expression are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. All statements, other than those that relate solely to historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Additionally, forward-looking statements include conditional statements and statements that identify uncertainties or trends, discuss the possible future effects of known trends or uncertainties, or that indicate that the future effects of known trends or uncertainties cannot be predicted, guaranteed or assured. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to us on the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise, except as required by applicable law or regulation.
The Company's actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to numerous factors including, without limitation, the following: any delay or inability of the Company to realize the expected benefits of the transactions, execution risks associated with our strategic operating plan; changes in our network strategy or other factors outside our control resulting in less economic aircraft orders, costs related to modification or termination of aircraft orders or entry into less favorable aircraft orders, as well as any inability to accept or integrate new aircraft into our fleet as planned; any failure to effectively manage, and receive anticipated benefits and returns from, acquisitions, divestitures, investments, joint ventures and other portfolio actions, or related exposures to unknown liabilities or other issues or underperformance as compared to our expectations; the adverse impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic on our business, operating results, financial condition and liquidity; adverse publicity, harm to our brand, reduced travel demand, potential tort liability and voluntary or mandatory operational restrictions as a result of an accident, catastrophe or incident involving us, our regional carriers, our codeshare partners or another airline; the highly competitive nature of the global airline industry and susceptibility of the industry to price discounting and changes in capacity, including as a result of alliances, joint business arrangements or other consolidations; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers to source a majority of our aircraft and certain parts, and the impact of any failure to obtain timely deliveries, additional equipment or support from any of these suppliers; disruptions to our regional network and
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