Boeing fights off ‘heated competition’ to land 15-plane order from Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines
- Fledgling airline, which has three aircraft at present, places order for 15 Boeing 737-9 planes and signed letter of intent to buy five of its 787 Dreamliners
- Cathay Pacific 21-plane order, expected to arrive last year but delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic, to be delivered by Boeing in 2025
The president and CEO of the commercial wing of US aircraft giant Boeing has revealed the company fought off fierce competition from its European rival Airbus to win Hong Kong’s first order for its 737 MAX from the city’s new Greater Bay Airlines.
“We prevailed in a heated competition,” Stanley Deal of Boeing Commercial Airplanes told the Post on Friday after a contract signing ceremony with the carrier, his first trip to the city in four years.
The fledgling airline, which took off in July last year and has three aircraft at present, placed an order for 15 Boeing 737-9 planes and also signed a letter of intent to buy five of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners.
Deal said Boeing had been in talks with the airline since its early days when the carrier chose the 737 as its first aircraft, but the manufacturer still had to “fight hard” to win the deal over Airbus.
He added he was delighted the airline had also signed a letter of intent with Boeing for the Dreamliner and that it was a signal the newcomer had ambitions to connect with international, long-haul destinations.
