A team led from Texas advised the airline in a widebody aircraft inventory overhaul that will include as many as 200 Boeing 787s over the next decade. Along with earlier announced acquisitions, the company says it will be accepting delivery of some 700 new aircraft, averaging delivery of as many as two per week in 2023.
United Airlines announced Tuesday that it has ordered 100 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, as well as an option to order 100 more, representing the largest-ever purchase of widebody aircraft in commercial aviation history.
United was advised by Sidley Austin with a team led from Texas by firm transportation partners Kevin Lewis in Houston and Bart Biggers in Dallas.
The team also included from Texas: M&A associate Grant Ellis (Dallas), transportation partner Atman Shukla (Houston), partner Robert Velevis (Dallas) as well as associates Ashley Rogers, Staci Shelby and Connor Brewer (all of Dallas).
Non-Texas lawyers included partner Anna Remis and managing associate Paul Kariyawasam, both of Palo Alto (technology transactions); partner Ted Murphy and senior managing associate Aaron M. Applebaum, both of Washington, D.C., (global arbitration); partner Alan Charles Raul and associate Sasha Hondagneu-Messner, both of New York (privacy and cybersecurity); Chicago associates Jahanzeb Jahania and Matt Nelson (M&A and private equity); Chicago partner Scott J. Heyman (Tax), and partner Charles Schafer (Commercial Litigation and Disputes).
United expects to take delivery of the new widebody planes between 2024 and 2032 and terms include flexibility of choices, depending on contemporary route needs, between models of the 787 aircraft: 787-8, 787-9 and 787-10. In June 2021, the company announced orders for 270 narrow-body aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. The airline said it expects to be adding the aircraft at an average of two per week in 2023 and will increase that average to three per week by 2024.
The company said its replacement of United’s older Boeing 767s and 777s by 2030 will ultimately reduce its carbon emissions per seat by 25 percent.
“United emerged from the pandemic as the world’s leading global airline and the flag carrier of the United States,” said United CEO Scott Kirby, in announcing the latest purchase. “This order further solidifies our lead and creates new opportunities for our customers, employees and shareholders by accelerating our plan to connect more people to more places around the globe and deliver the best experience in the sky.” Though headquartered in Chicago, United has hub operations in seven U.S. cities, including Houston. From Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport alone, United boasts 56 international destinations, second only to Newark’s Liberty International Airport with 78.