British Airways to retire B777-200s by YE20

British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) will retire its three remaining B777-200s by the end of 2020, ch-aviation has learned.

The three Boeing widebodies, G-ZZZA (msn 27105), G-ZZZB (msn 27106), and G-ZZZC (msn 27107), are currently scheduled for a phase-out in September or October 2020. All three units are 24-year-old aircraft owned by British Airways and operated by the carrier throughout their life span. Each of the aircraft accumulated over 95,000 flight hours and around 20,000 flight cycles as of April 30, 2019, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.

The B777-200s are used by British Airways mainly on services out of London Heathrow to the US East Coast (New York JFK and Boston) and the Middle East (Dubai Int'l and Bahrain Int'l).

In terms of its B777 fleet, British Airways also operates forty-three B777-200(ER)s and twelve B777-300(ER)s.

Separately, the carrier is looking at adding more second-hand A380-800s. IAG International Airlines Group CEO Willie Walsh told aeroTELEGRAPH that the group "would definitely think about it".

"If we get them for the right price. The biggest problem is the cost of refurbishment, which is quite high. We have to be sure that we can do it in ways that make it worthwhile, and then it will be a topic. We currently have twelve A380s in British Airways' fleet and I can imagine eighteen. Six more Airbus A380s would make sense," Walsh said.

The carrier's twelve A380-800s are 5.2 years old on average. Walsh underlined that the group is not looking at adding the A380s for any other airline.

Besides the B777s and the A380s, British Airways' widebody fleet also includes thirty-four B747-400s, twelve B787-8s, and seventeen B787-9s. The carrier also has eighteen A350-1000s, eighteen B777-9s, and twelve B787-10s on order.
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