All Nippon Airways (ANA) is the third airline to confirm an order for Boeing’s new full-freighter, the 777-8F. But like launch customer Qatar Airways, the Japanese have swapped orders for the 777-9 for the freighter version. ANA also confirmed an order for thirty MAX 8s, which it announced on July 11. ANA swaps two Boeing 777-9s for 777-8Fs.
ANA announced the original MoU for twenty 777-9s on March 27, 2014, and confirmed this a few months later in July. Boeing won the order thanks in part to the strong industrial relationship with the Japanese aviation industry, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (MHI) a tier 1 supplier of 777/777X and 787 components.
Following the pandemic in 2020, ANA reviewed its order book and deferred numerous deliveries from Boeing and Airbus, but the 777-9-order was maintained albeit deferred. The program delays have caused deliveries to slip further. During today’s meeting, the Board of Directors decided to convert orders for two aircraft into the new 777-8F for delivery in the fiscal year 2028.
This makes ANA the third airline to confirm an order for the new freighter after Qatar Airways’ launch order for 34 firm plus sixteen options in January and Lufthansa’s firm order for seven in May. Ethiopian Airlines announced an MoU for five in March, but this still needs to be confirmed.
MAX order
All Nippon also confirmed an order for twenty MAX 8 plus ten options than was originally announced on January 29, 2019. Deliveries will start in FY25 and they will gradually replace ANA’s 39 737-800s on the domestic network.
The carrier also has another fifteen Airbus A320neo on backlog from an order of 26, plus three A321neo’s remaining on backlog from an order of 25. Boeings unfilled orders show eight 787-9s and twelve -10s that need to be delivered.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
In 2022, he has gone full-time freelance. Richard has been contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He is also writing for Airliner World and Aviation News and until July 1 2023 in a part-time role with Dutch website and magazine Luchtvaartnieuws. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
ANA HD said they would take it 2023 to 2029, but with another 2yr delay being likely, to 2025, they have to review the order with Boeing once again.
None of the 777 Freighter orders should be taken as genuine interest. SQ did their calculations and discovered numbers favor the A350-1000 aka a clean sheet design vs a neoed version especially if it’s a widebody.