Juventus From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 2835 posts, RR: 2 Posted (8 years 4 months 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 4521 times:
Some A340 and A330 orders that never materialised. Does anybody know why these airlines cancelled their orders. TWA and AOM cancelled their orders years before their demise.
EVA AIR- A340-600
Ethiopian- A340-300
Continental- A330-200 and A340-300
Northwest- A340-300
TWA- A330-200
ALL Nippon (ANA)- A340-300
AOM- A340-300
PM From India, joined Feb 2005, 6747 posts, RR: 65 Reply 2, posted (8 years 4 months 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 4448 times:
From memory, I think the EVA planes were 340-500s and, while I know that they evaluated it, CO never actually ordered A330s, did they? I wasn't even aware that they'd come that close to A340s.
But cancellations are nothing new. Transbrasil, SAA and Gulf (again, from memory) had 777s on order but cancelled them. SIA ordered MD-11s and then pulled out.
Some of this may be to do with how we define an 'order'. Backing out of a real order can be expensive and difficult. Signing an MOU to buy but then deciding not to is much easier (and cheaper). Putting down deposits (as Virgin did on 777s) and then writing that off (or converting the deposit to another type from the same manufacturer) is another possibility.
I guess I'm saying that I wonder how many of your examples (and mine) were 'real' orders as opposed to either airline or manufacturer (or both) talking up less binding options and MOUs.
Dkny From Ethiopia, joined Mar 2004, 693 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (8 years 4 months 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 4413 times:
ET cancelled their lease on the 340-300 right before delivery. it was in ET colours and all, something with they mechanics not accepting the aircraft they way it was.
LVZXV From Gabon, joined Mar 2004, 2041 posts, RR: 44 Reply 6, posted (8 years 4 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 3701 times:
Que tal Arcano?
2 things:
AR was only going to be the launch customer for the new A340 in the American continent, as far as I remember. I think VS and CX had their orders filed a bit before 1999, but if this isn't the case, then it's all the more sad that the deal didn't work out for AR. Some sources said that AR's first A346 would arrive in 2002, in which case they could have beaten VS, but more likely, the A346s would have arrived between 2004 and 2008.
And the main reason the deal never materialised was quite simply due to the economic crash and the devaluation; although Marsans theoretically operate with Spanish capital, ever since the take-over in 2001, there was no way they were going to be able to commit the necessary funds for 6 new A340-600s, although they have cleverly left the order as "indefinitely postponed" rather than officially cancelled.
AR also cancelled the acquisition of 2 A340-300s in 1999/2000 (F-OHPL/M), though I'm not so sure of the reasons for this.
Ha763 From United States of America, joined Jan 2003, 3494 posts, RR: 6 Reply 8, posted (8 years 4 months 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 3551 times:
Actually, I believe CO dropped their Airbus order when they went into bankruptcy protection in the early 1990's allowing CO to do so without penalty. I also believe that NW's orders actually stayed on the Airbus books, but were allowed to be cancelled as they ordered the A330s.
777ER From New Zealand, joined Dec 2003, 11350 posts, RR: 17 Reply 9, posted (8 years 4 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 3494 times:
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Quoting PM (reply 2): CO never actually ordered A330s, did they? I wasn't even aware that they'd come that close to A340s.
CO ordered the A340 but cancelled later on, I think before the first A340 was going to be delivered and went for the B777 instead. There are some CO A343 models around.
Alexchao From United States of America, joined Aug 2001, 686 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (8 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 3172 times:
Well, obviously EVA Air chose the 777-300ER and -200LR over the A340-500. But, they did choose the A330-200 for their short- to medium-range destinations.
Ktachiya From Japan, joined Sep 2004, 1732 posts, RR: 2 Reply 12, posted (8 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 2972 times:
as for the NH A340-300, they were evaluating the ac. The problem is, the rival T7 beat the game. I think the T7 was a better option in the end. All Nippon, Japan Airlines, and Japan Airsystem all ordered the aircraft and cut costs by cooperating with each other in maintenance.
Indeed the A340 series never came to BA. But they have A330-200's now doing the NRT run.
Juventus From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 2835 posts, RR: 2 Reply 13, posted (8 years 3 months 3 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 2839 times:
I read on a CIA book, that Saudi Arabian had actually ordered more than 50 Airbuses. Mr. Clinton got on Air Force One, flew to Saudi Arabia, and persuaded the airline to change the order to Boeing aircraft. The book is Sleeping with the devil.
PHX Flyer From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 439 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (8 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 2699 times:
TWA ordered 10 A330-300, not the -200. IIRC, the original order was for 20 frames plus 20 options. The type was supposed to replace the aging B747-100 fleet. The plan never came to fruition because of the drastic decline in transatlantic traffic around this time as a result of the Lockerbie bombing and the war in the Gulf.
Flying-Tiger From Germany, joined Aug 1999, 4115 posts, RR: 39 Reply 15, posted (8 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 2577 times:
@Juventus: The version we have over here is a bit different. Both Airbus and Boeing were heavily competing for this deal, however the CIA/NSA fished every fax from Airbus to Boeing. Boeing was told the prices Airbus was offering and in this case was always able to be a tad lower than Airbus´ offer.
CO had 10 A330-300 and 10 A340-300 on order, later changed ot to 13/7 (?) before completely cancelling it.
NH had 5 A340-300s in the books for years, but at one point decided to cancel it. No idea why they ordered them in first place.
NW apparently has an interesting deal with Airbus: the old order stayed in the book and after every delivery of an 330-200/300 of the new order, one frame is canceled of the old order. Suppose it has to do with the old framework and probably the deposits paid for the old order. However, as of today NW already has more A330-200/300 on order than the old order ever had.
AviationMaster From Switzerland, joined Oct 1999, 2464 posts, RR: 38 Reply 16, posted (8 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 2555 times:
Swissair ordered a couple of Airbus A340-600s (not sure of the number, I think they had ordered 9) which were never delivered due to their disappearance in 2001. If I'm correct they are now being operated by Iberia.
Gigneil From United States of America, joined Nov 2002, 16215 posts, RR: 88 Reply 18, posted (8 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2400 times:
Juventus From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 2835 posts, RR: 2 Reply 19, posted (8 years 3 months 3 weeks 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 2268 times:
An A330 in TWA colors would have been a nice thing to see. Was TWA thinking about replacing the L1011s or 767s with the A330.
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