Emirates finalises Boeing 777/787 order make-up

Emirates (EK, Dubai Int’l) has made a decision on the final composition of its Boeing (BOE, Chicago O’Hare) order backlog, which includes B777X and B787 Family jets, but will not reveal any details at this time. Chief Operating Officer Adel Al Redha told Bloomberg that the carrier has taken an internal decision on the order despite negotiations with Boeing still ongoing regarding both the size of the order and the timing of deliveries. The Emirati carrier has firm orders for sixteen B777-8s, ninety-nine B777-9s, and thirty B787-9s from the American manufacturer. Without going into details about the potential swap of the B777X for more B787s, Al Redha acknowledged that Emirates would like to take deliveries of the smaller B787s first given the expected slow pace of recovery of the international travel demand. However, the B777X are contractually due to deliver earlier. “I think Boeing would prefer to deliver the B777s before B787s because that is a new programme for them,” Al Redha said. The entry into service of the B777-9 has now been formally delayed to 2022. The deliveries of B787-9s to Emirates were due to commence in 2023. The airline also has fifty A350-900s and six A380-800s on order from Airbus. Emirates’ current passenger fleet entails 114 A380-800s, ten B777-200(LR)s, and 132 B777-300(ER)s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.