Sir Tim Clark, the long-serving president of Emirates Airline who delayed his planned retirement to see the carrier through the Coronavirus pandemic, has told an aviation conference that he now believes that the airline won’t receive any Boeing 777X aircraft until after the first quarter in 2024.
Emirates has a total of 126 next-generation Boeing 777X on order. The 777X currently has two variants known as the 777-8 and 777-9. The bulk of the Dubai-based airline’s order is made up of the longer 777-9, along with 25 longer-range but smaller capacity 777-8 aircraft.
Once the airline starts taking delivery of the 777X they will be used to replace Emirates’ existing fleet of first-generation 777’s and will complement the double-deck Airbus A380. Emirates also have Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Airbus A350 aircraft on order.
Emirates originally intended to take delivery of its first 777X in 2020 but development delays and now the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed the timeline back by at least three years. The airline recently said it hoped to start flying the aircraft in 2023 but Sir Tim suggested that even that date is optimistic.
“The 777x was due to come in June of last year, Now it’s unlikely to be, I think, before the first quarter of 2024,” Sir Tim told the online CAPA conference.
Boeing says that it still hopes to begin deliveries in late 2023. Emirates is meant to be one of the 777X launch airlines.
