Emirates hopes to receive its first 777X widebody jets from Boeing at the back end of next year, the airline’s President Tim Clark said on Tuesday, after years-long delays to the project.
Emirates and other carriers, including Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, are eager to get the new jet, Clark said at a media event in Berlin.
“We’re in discussions about trying to improve the number we’re going to get, but it will be between 3 and 5, and in the following year maybe 10,” he said. “I’m fairly vague about it because, I think, Boeing are fairly vague about it as well, even at this stage,” Clark said.
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The Dubai-based airline is the world’s largest buyer of widebody jets and has frequently complained about delays to Boeing’s largest model, which the US planemaker partly attributed to lengthy certification.
On the 777X’s competitor, Airbus’ A350, Clark reiterated his wish to buy a stretched variant, referred to as A350-2000. “You got to have a bigger aeroplane” than the A350-1000, currently Airbus’ largest plane. “Where (Airbus) are on that, I really don’t know,” he said.
Clark also pointed to his airline’s order of 35 of the smaller Boeing 787 jets, which could be used as a backstop should there be further delays in the 777X programme.
Emirates will probably decide on the 787 in about a month, when it has more clarity on the production of the 777X, Clark said.
He suggested that the ordered 787 aircraft could also end up at other airlines. “We’ve got a range of things that we can do,” he said, with many airlines and lessors interested.
The UAE carrier has 270 of the 777X jets and 35 fo 787s on order. Boeing’s first 777X variant will be the 777-9.
Source: Khaleej Times