A report by Andrew Curran in Simple Flying confirms that new QANTAS 787s are quietly being flown from Boeing to Victorville, in the USA, with according to Curran, the process reflecting QANTAS’ three-year plan to “rightsize” the business as it adjusts to decreased demand, with part of that rightsizing process being pushing back delivery time frames for new aircraft, with three new Qantas 787-9s having been ferried to Victorville in recent months.
Simple Flying says that it has already reported on a new Qantas 787-9 VH-ZNN going straight from Boeing’s Paine Field at Everett into storage at Victorville, with that particular one attracting attention because of its incomplete paint job, with the tail marking it as a Qantas Dreamliner, but with no other identifying branding or livery.
He adds that two other Qantas 787-9s have quietly flown into Victorville lately, with on September 18, VH-ZNM was ferried from Boeing’s Everett plant to Victorville and one month later, on October 15, VH-ZNL was ferried from Everett to Victorville, but unlike last week’s VH-ZNN ferry flight, both VH-ZNM and VH-ZNL had complete paint jobs.
The report says that in May, Qantas said it wouldn’t take any more Dreamliners until 2021, with these three aircraft apparently completing the Qantas order of 14 Dreamliners, with 11 already delivered, the last late in 2019 and The majority of these planes are also in storage in various locations.
It is not clear whether the last three are now owned by QANTAS or aircraft that remain in the ownership of Boeing, but we will ask QANTAS and let you know.
STOP PRESS: I have received an interesting reply from QANTAS’ PR agency as follows: –
“Hi there, yep those three aircraft haven’t been delivered to Qantas as yet.”
I presume therefore they must remain the property of Boeing.
An edited report from Simple Flying by John Alwyn-Jones
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