Aeroflot Says Boeing to Delay 787 Delivery

Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot expects Boeing to delay delivery of 22 787s by over two years from the initially planned 2014, Aeroflot general director Valery Okulov said last week. “We have received official notification, the delay is 28 months,” Okulov told reporters.

Aeroflot last year agreed to pay almost $6 billion for 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft and the same number of Airbus A350s. Okulov also said Aeroflot doubted if it was expedient for it to buy Italy’s struggling flag carrier Alitalia, which it briefly expressed an interest in buying last year.

“The state in which Alitalia was last year gave hope for recovery... Now I have big doubts that it is possible to bring it to healthy state,” he said.

Aeroflot said in April it was waiting for Italy –which has been trying to sell its 49.9 percent stake in the loss-making carrier for more than a year- to invite it to renew talks after Air France-KLM’s deal to buy the Italian firm collapsed earlier last month.