By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Air Berlin Plc, Germany's second-biggest airline, said Tuesday it has reduced its order for 787 aircraft made by Boeing Co. and delayed delivery of several other airplanes because of a change in market conditions.
Air Berlin /quotes/comstock/11e!fab1 (DE:AB1 3.65, +0.01, +0.27%) has agreed with U.S.-based Boeing /quotes/comstock/13*!ba/quotes/nls/ba (BA 68.14, +0.92, +1.37%) to lower the number of firm orders of 787 aircraft from 25 to 15 and to reduce the number of options on 787 aircraft from 10 to 5.
The 10 aircraft order reduction has a current list price of about $1.7 billion.
Getty ImagesAir Berlin said it has also delayed delivery of 9 Boeing 737 aircraft to 2015. These planes were originally scheduled for delivery in 2010 or 2011.
The changes in the order book were "mutually agreed" with Boeing to account for a change in market conditions, Air Berlin said.
"For Air Berlin, the agreement means a significant reduction of its financial obligations due to lower and much more distributed investment profile," said Ulf Huettmeyer, Air Berlin's chief financial officer.
Huettmeyer said Air Berlin believes in the future of the 787 aircraft and looks forward to the first delivery in November 2015. Boeing has had trouble getting that aircraft, known as the Dreamliner, to customers. See earlier story on the Dreamliner.
Airlines have been delaying or cancelling orders, as traffic has slumped. Air Berlin transported a total of 27.9 million passengers in 2009, a decrease of 3.9% compared with the previous year.
Shares of Air Berlin dropped 0.5% in recent trading on Xetra. They have gained 6% over the past three months.
Shares of competitor Deutsche Lufthansa AG /quotes/comstock/11e!flha (DE:LHA 12.47, +0.15, +1.18%) rose 1.2% on Xetra.
Polya Lesova is reporter for MarketWatch, based in Frankfurt.
