International Airlines Group confirmed on 9 May 2025 a split widebody order covering 32 Boeing 787-10s for British Airways and 21 Airbus A330-900neos for Aer Lingus, Iberia and LEVEL. The combined commitment of $21 billion at list price ranks among the largest widebody deals ever placed by a European airline group and locks in delivery streams running from 2028 through 2033. Options exist for an additional 10 Boeing 787 frames.
The British Airways side
The 32 Boeing 787-10s are destined for British Airways and represent an incremental rather than a new-type acquisition. BA already operates 787-8s and 787-9s at London Heathrow and London Gatwick. The 787-10 stretches the family at a higher seat count and shorter range than the 787-9, suiting medium-long routes from Heathrow rather than the carrier’s ultra-long-haul flagships. The $13 billion Boeing tranche fits BA’s pattern of running parallel Boeing widebody and Airbus narrowbody fleets, with the 787-10 sitting between the 777 long-haul backbone and the A350-1000 premium fleet.
The Aer Lingus, Iberia and LEVEL side
The 21 Airbus A330-900neos are allocated across Aer Lingus, Iberia and LEVEL, IAG’s transatlantic low-cost brand. Aer Lingus already operates the A330ceo from Dublin on transatlantic services. Iberia operates A330-200s and A330-300s alongside its A350-900 fleet. LEVEL, operating from Barcelona, runs the A330ceo on point-to-point long-haul. The A330-900neo continues those carriers on a single widebody family with improved fuel burn and updated cabins. The Airbus tranche carries a value of approximately $8 billion at list.
Why split-supplier
The split is not a hedge. It reflects IAG’s brand-portfolio structure. British Airways has been a Boeing widebody operator since the 747 era and continues a Boeing-heavy widebody fleet. Aer Lingus, Iberia and LEVEL have been Airbus widebody operators across the A330 generation. Concentrating the BA order on Boeing and the Iberia-Aer Lingus-LEVEL order on Airbus preserves type-rating economics, simplifies pilot pools and maintenance contracts within each brand, and avoids cross-brand crew complexity that would arise from a unified procurement.
The trade-off is that IAG forgoes the negotiation leverage of a single-supplier mega-deal. The decision suggests group management values brand-level fleet coherence over maximum unit price compression.
Delivery cadence
The 2028-2033 delivery window matters as much as the headline order count. Both Boeing and Airbus have widebody backlogs that put any new entrant deep into the late 2020s before metal arrives. For corporate buyers the practical implication is that the order shapes capacity additions in the 2029-2033 window, not the 2026-2027 window. Existing widebody capacity across all four IAG brands runs out the current cycle on current fleet.
Fleet renewal rather than expansion
Both tranches are framed by IAG as fleet renewal, replacing older 777s at BA and A330ceo airframes at Aer Lingus, Iberia and LEVEL. Net widebody capacity growth is more modest than the firm-order count suggests because retirements run in parallel. The order locks in technology, fuel burn and cabin product for the next operating cycle rather than dramatically expanding ASK supply.
What is not in the order
Notably absent from the announcement is a top-up A350 order for BA or Iberia, both of which operate A350-1000s, and a 777X commitment from BA, which had been considered a possible candidate for ultra-long-haul renewal. Both types remain open optionality for future decisions. The 9 May 2025 announcement focuses tightly on medium-long widebody replacement, leaving the long-range and ultra-long-range fleet questions for later.
Where it leaves IAG
With this order on the books IAG has settled its mid-haul widebody fleet question for a decade. The combination of a Boeing 787-10 buy at BA and an A330-900neo buy at the smaller brands gives the group a coherent fleet structure: A320 family narrowbodies across all brands, 787s and 777s plus A350s at BA, A330neos and A350s at the smaller carriers. Corporate buyers can plan with confidence around fleet type and product for the 2030s.