Emirates, the largest customer of Boeing 777X, is wondering whether it should trade up some of its orders for 787 Dreamliners, its chairman confirmed.
The airline ordered 150 Boeing 777X jets back in 2013. Already during the Dubai Airshow in November 2019, Emirates reduced its order by 24 aircraft to acquire 30 Dreamliners instead. Rumors of a plan to trade up to a third of its order for more 787s emerged in February 2021.
Asked if the plan was still being considered, Emirates’ chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum did not rule out a swap as the Gulf carrier calibrates its new post-pandemic fleet plans. “It is always a possibility,” Al Maktoum told reporters. “We are assessing our fleet requirements as we speak.”
Emirates recently called for more transparency from Boeing regarding its newest wide-body, currently running three years behind schedule.
“I would like more visibility when exactly we are going to receive these airplanes and what exactly they are going to be able to do with regards to their performance,” Emirates president Sir Tim Clark said speaking at the World Aviation Festival virtual event. “I think we will be having grown-up conversations with the Boeing company sometime in the next few months.”
Emirates was initially supposed to start taking deliveries of the first Boeing 777X aircraft in 2020. However, that timeline was initially pushed back to 2022 and later to 2023. Clark expressed even more doubts about the first delivery, saying it could even take place in 2024.
