China Eastern Airlines terminates order for 24 B787s in favour of order for 45 B737NGs

China Eastern Airlines terminated (17-Oct-2011) an order for 24 B787s (15 B787s ordered by China Eastern and nine ordered by Shanghai Airlines) in favour of an order for 45 B737NGs for a "comparable" price. The aircraft are expected to be delivered to the company in stages from 2014 to 2016. The carrier also confirmed that "Boeing Company has agreed to paid certain amount of indemnity to the company, which will be used to pay for part of the consideration". The B737NG aircraft will primarily be used to satisfy the "increasing demand of the domestic passenger air transportation as well as the international and regional medium-and-short-haul routes passenger air transportation in the coming years". Based on capacity (ATKs) levels from 31-Dec-2010 and without considering any further capacity adjustment,s the addition of the B737NG aircraft will increase the ATKs of the company by approximately 8.65%. The purchase is being funded through bank loans from commercial banks. [more - original PR]