One year on from when British Airways was meant to take delivery of its first Boeing 787-10 aircraft, the airline is still only flying two of the type. It looks as though other aircraft could be a little way off. Yesterday a brand new 787-10 bound for the airline was sent to Victorville, known for its aircraft storage facilities.
Around the world, deliveries have slowed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the aviation industry. Airbus last month delivered just 21 aircraft. Meanwhile, with deliveries of the MAX resuming, Boeing fared slightly better with 26 deliveries. Despite this, according to its order books, the American aerospace giant hasn’t delivered a single 787 since October.
British Airways behind schedule
British Airways has originally planned to take six Boeing 787-10 aircraft during 2020. In reality, the airline received two. Even the two that British Airways did receive appeared to be delayed.
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In November 2019, the airline revealed that it would take delivery of its first Boeing 787-10 in January 2020. However, January soon became February, then March… After delays, the airline didn’t eventually take delivery of its first 787-10 until late June 2020. A second followed shortly after on July 1st.
New aircraft to storage?
Since taking delivery of two Boeing 787-10s in one week, British Airways hasn’t taken any further deliveries of the type. According to BOE Family Flights, three future 787-10s bound for British Airways have now been built and painted. Indeed, two of these have already completed flights.
Despite this, it seems that they won’t be delivered any time soon. Yesterday G-ZBLD, BA’s fourth Boeing 787-10 completed its first cross country flight. However, rather than heading east towards London, the aircraft flew west still in Boeing’s care.
According to data from RadarBox.com, the aircraft departed Charleston at 09:19 EST. Having flown for four hours and 38 minutes, the 787-10 touched down in Victorville, California, at 10:57 PST. Victorville is well known for storing aircraft. It has been home to many grounded Boeing 737 MAXs, including the Southwest Airlines fleet. Additionally, it is currently home to most of Qantas’ Airbus A380 fleet.
Simple Flying has contacted British Airways for comment. This article will be updated as appropriate.
What about the two 787-10s BA already has?
Since taking delivery of its 787-10s, British Airways has been putting the type to good use. Except for January, which also saw demand for BA’s preighters drop, G-ZBLA has completed at least 200 hours of flying each month. According to data from RadarBox.com, it has operated 136 flights to Dallas Fort Worth, accounting for 26.9% of its landings. Seattle saw 82 flights, with the remaining flights primarily being spread around North America.
The proportions of destinations are relatively similar for the airline’s second 787-10, G-ZBLB. However, unlike its sister, this second aircraft has completed more than 200 hours of flying each month, including 14 trips to Stuttgart.
What do you make of a brand new British Airways Boeing 787-10 heading to Victorville? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!