During my recent visit to Berlin, I had the chance to meet Sir Tim Clark, Emirates Airline President, for a breakfast round table.
Boeing 777X Delivery Update
Emirates President Tim Clark has shared his doubts about the carrier’s Boeing 777X delivery schedule at a time when the Dubai-based carrier should already have been operating 90 of the large twin-jet. When asked about its first 777X delivery, Clark said:
“This is a very good question, I wish I could answer that. Boeing has their hands full, for all the reasons we know. But it will not happen this year,”
Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline
Emirates has 35 Boeing 777-8s and 170 777-9s on order. “Right now we would have had about 90 of them, maybe some more,” Clark says. Getting the 777X certified and out to its first customers, targeted for early 2026 is the first step. But then Clark worries about the ability of Boeing to ramp up and deliver the 456 777Xs that airlines have on order, excluding the 777-8F. “If you do the math with three, four, five or with even six aircraft per month for the next two years, it takes a long time to burn down that orderbook,” Clark said.
“We are unsure when Boeing will meet the ramp-up. Additionally, they have 28 new orders,” Clark said. “We have suggested a few things to them—it’s up to them to take the suggestions.”
To manage the 777X delays, Emirates has extended the operational life of many aircraft in its fleet. “In the old days, we used to trade aircraft when they were eight years,” Clark said, “Then up to 10, 12 years, and now it is going further.”
“We have a 220-strong aircraft retrofit program, pushing $5 billion of our cash. We have no choice — this is not an option,” Clark said. “This [fleet strategy] is the only one we could sustain to grow the network. We had to take control of our own destiny.”
Asked what new opportunities the 777X will bring, Clark said,
“Obviously, eventually to replace all the A380 routes. But 200 seats lighter compared to what we are doing at the moment. The 777X will be the workhorse in the long-haul [fleet]. [Boeing] needs to get on with the job. There is only one Boeing.”
Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline
Emirates A350-1000 Case
After launching Airbus A350-900 operations at the start of the year, Clark said
“The A350-1000 is of interest to us. We have done a lot of work in defining what the aircraft is going to look like inside and which kind of mission we are putting it on,”
Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline
Powered by the higher-thrust Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97, Clark was not happy with the durability of the A350-1000’s engine at the last Dubai Airshow and said he would not order the variant until the powerplant’s time on wing reached 2,500 cycles, and “at a maintenance cost per hour that is alright.”
Clark appears to have softened his stance now, “If we get 2,000 hours and the stability and resilience we need, then we look at it.” But he reiterated that Emirates could not afford to have an aircraft “with engines which are suboptimal for the kind of mission that we do, the range of the routes.” He suggested that an improved XWB-97 could be ready in 2027 or 2028.
When asked how satisfied he is with the current A350-900 operation, Clark says that Emirates plans to order more. “There are a few difficulties to get them out of the door, they are all late,” he said, “but operating them is a dream.”
“The [A350-900] has already been flying for 11 years. All the operators are satisfied, and the Rolls engines are not overstressed, [but] I begin to wonder if it is too small [in terms of capacity].”
Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline
Clark expects 12-15 more A350-900s to be delivered to Emirates this year. Airbus has already informed Emirates that every new delivery will be delayed by two to three months.
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The post “Emirates President Tim Clark on 777X and A350-1000 Update” by Kurt Hofmann was published on 03/07/2025 by samchui.com