China Airlines mulls buying seven Boeing 787 jets

Taipei - China Airlines (CAL), Taiwan's largest carrier, is mulling buying seven Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets worth 1.1 billion US dollars, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The China Times said that CAL plans to replace its seven medium- capacity passenger jets with Boeing 787s. Taiwan Transport Minister Tsai Tui visited the Boeing Co last week for a briefing on the 787s, which are due to be delivered to Boeing customers beginning next year.

The paper quoted CAL President Chao Kuo-shuai as saying that CAL was making evaluations for upgrading its fleet.

The China Times said that Tsai Tui met with US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. CAL's plan to buy Boeing 787s was the main factor bringing about the Peters-Tsai meeting, as US officials usually avoid high-level contacts with Taiwan for fear of angering China.

China, which sees Taiwan as its breakaway province, bars countries recognizing Beijing from having formal contacts with Taipei.

CAL has 70 aircraft, out of which 49 are passenger jets. Half of CAL's 70 planes are Boeing jets and half are Airbus jets. The average age of CAL's aircraft is 5.2 years, compared to the 10-to-15-year lifespan of foreign airlines' fleets.

CAL wants to use the Boeing Dreamliner to replace its Airbus A340- 300. The operational efficiency of A340-300s is lower, because it incurs high fuel and maintenance costs, because its electronics components often malfunction and the engine thrust is weak, the China Times reported.

The paper said that CAL's preference for the Boeing 787 is its "operation efficiency" - the jet is made with eco-friendly material, uses 20 per cent less fuel and discharges 20 per cent less exhaust.

The Boeing 787 is the first new passenger jet Boeing has launched in 13 years. The first Dreamliner rolled off an assembly line on July 8, test flights are to begin in August, and the first 787 is slated for delivery next year to Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA).

Compared with jumbo jets, the Boeing 787 is smaller but more efficient.

The 787 can carry 200 to 300 passengers with a range of 5,600- 15,700 kilometres, compared to Boeing's 747, which carries 400 passengers and can fly 8,000-12,300 km.

The list price of a Boeing 787 is 162 million US dollars.

In response to the China Times report, CAL said "there isn't such a deal, CAL has not placed orders, and Transport Minister Tsai Tui's US trip has nothing to do with CAL."

"CAL has always been making evaluations about its flight routes, capacity and operation cost. But so far we have been only collecting data," CAL said in a statement.

CAL also defended its decision to buy A340-300 jets, which began to join the CAL fleet in 2000.

"At that time we considered A340-300 fuel-efficient and comfortable," it said.

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