United Sees No Room For A380 In Long-Haul Fleet

United Airlines President and CEO Jeffery Smisek is seeking aircraft larger than the Airbus A350-900 for the carrier’s future long-haul fleet, but is discounting the double-deck Airbus A380. The European manufacturer’s A380 is “probably a little large for what we need”, but the A350-900 on the other hand “might be suboptimal for some of our routes,” Smisek told Aviation Week during a visit to Frankfurt. United has ordered 25 A350-900s and 50 Boeing 787s, of which 14 will be the larger -9 version. United’s first 787-8 is to arrive in September and six will be delivered by year-end ...