Boeing 777-8F model Paris Airshow 2025
China Southern Airlines is the latest airline to order the Boeing 777-8F. Subsidiary CSA Cargo announced an order for five aircraft plus three options, as well as two 777Fs, in a stock exchange filing on June 26.
The order is valued at $3.6 billion in list prices, with the 777-8F valued at $540 million, but China Southern says that it has negotiated price concessions. It is not confirmed that the order follows the state visit of President Trump in May, when he disclosed that the Chinese government had agreed to purchase 200 Boeing aircraft. President and CEO Kelly Ortberg said later that this number could grow once contracts are finalised.
China Southern is buying the aircraft as it “considers that cross-border e-commerce is currently and will continue to mature in the foreseeable future, and industrial upgrading is accelerating the pace of going global. Meanwhile, major national strategies such as the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area and the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” provided the Company and CSA Cargo with broader development opportunities. The Company and CSA Cargo are actively seizing development opportunities, maintaining steady growth in capacity share, and further optimising their fleet structure. The Purchase will help enhance the profitability and core competitiveness of the Company and CSA Cargo.”
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China Southern has no passenger versions of the 777X on order. Deliveries of the newly ordered freighters start in 2027 and run through 2034. This indicates that the airline will get the two 777F ‘’Classics” first, as the 777-8F is running behind schedule. Boeing launched the freighter version of the 777X in January 2022 with an order from Qatar Airways. The plan was then to certify the type in 2027, but this schedule was amended in 2024, with certification and entry into service slipping to 2028.
Production of the first 8F started in July 2025. In March this year, the mid-fuselage was mated with the composite wings, followed by the assembly of the full aircraft. Boeing has not shared details about when it plans to have the first flight, but this could happen before the end of the year.
68 orders
The 777-8F has now won 68 confirmed orders. Qatar Airways ordered 34 in January 2022, followed by Lufthansa for seven in May 2022, ANA for two in July 2022, Cargolux for ten firm plus six options in October 2022, Silk Way West for two in November 2022, and China Airlines for another four in August 2025. The Taiwanese airline originally announced an order for four firm plus four options in December 2013, shortly after Boeing launched the 777X program.
The -8F has a structural payload capacity of 118 tonnes or 112 net. This gives the type an edge over the Airbus A350F, which comes at a structural capacity of 111 tonnes. The A350F will make its first flight in Q3 and should enter service in 2027.
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