Another Boeing program has been put under pressure. This time it is Boeing 787 aircraft. The Russian carrier Aeroflot has announced about cancellation of the order for 22 planes of the type.

The statement was not publicly released by any of the parties but buried in Boeing’s monthly order release. This order had been an area of uncertainty for already four years, when the airline said it needs no more aircraft. However, Aeroflot still has 14 Airbus A350-900 widebodies on the order.

Obviously, cancellation of such a massive order could not go unnoticed. It would definitely impact Boeing’s 787 production rates, especially after the plane-maker increased the number of manufactured 787s across its two sites in the US from 12 to 14 per month.

“One of the sources, who closely monitors Boeing’s production plans, said the plane-maker has dozens of unsold or potentially vacant 787 positions on its production line in 2022″, Reuters reports.

Correspondingly, there is a possibility that by 2022 the changes in Boeing 787 production rates could be set aside, in case Boeing does not secure the necessary number of orders.

Sam Chui says that Boeing has total orders for 1,450 787 Dreamliners, of which 894 have been delivered. Meanwhhile, 113 Boeing 787s have been delivered through the three quarters of 2019.

Recently, the widebody aircraft market has been dealing with many challenges greatly reducing the number of commitments for huge jets. Intensifying trade tensions, weakening global economy and the ability of narrow-body aircraft to conquer longer distances (e.g. Airbus A321LR and the recently launched Airbus A321XLR) make widebody planes not the first choice.