BA Quickens Retirement of 767 Fleet

British Airways Boeing 767

British Airways is to quicken the retirement of its Boeing 767s and has advanced slightly the delivery schedule of its Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 fleets.

The airline aims to have only four 767s in its long-haul fleet by the end of 2015, compared with seven previously.

Parent company IAG says that all the long-haul 767s will be retired by 2016. They will be replaced by 787s.

In a fleet schedule disclosed during an investor briefing, IAG shows that BA has slightly accelerated the 787 delivery schedule and will have 13 by the end of next year.

BA is to start introducing 787-9s in 2015 and will begin receiving Airbus A350s in 2018 and 787-10s in 2019.

The carrier has also brought forward an A380 delivery from the first quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2015, by which point it will have 10 of the type with two outstanding.

BA's Boeing 787-8

BA has a batch of 767s in its short-haul operation which will be retired by 2018, replaced with Airbus A320-family jets. The carrier will also remove its 737s by 2015.

Its short-haul A320-family fleet has been undergoing a revamp to higher-density configuration. BA executive chairman Keith Williams says it will finish the conversion of the 51 A320s involved next week, and then start on 11 A321s.

Work on the A321s will be finished by the end of the year, he says. BA will then turn to the A319s and complete the switch by next summer.

Williams says the cabin changes, which increase seat density by 6%, are proving “popular with customers”

BA's Airbus A380