The long-serving president of Emirates Airline has blasted embattled aircraft manufacturer Boeing over the latest delay to its next-generation 777X widebody aircraft, saying that “serious conversations” now need to be had with the aerospace giant.
Sir Tim Clark openly criticized Boeing just days after the manufacturer pushed back the first deliveries of the highly anticipated 777X until 2026 at the earliest—six years later than originally planned.
“Emirates has had to make significant and highly expensive amendments to our fleet programs as a result of Boeing’s multiple contractual shortfalls,” Clark told Bloomberg in a statement.
Due to an ongoing strike by tens of thousands of machinists at Boeing’s aircraft assembly lines in Portland and Seattle, Clark said: “I fail to see how Boeing can make any meaningful forecasts of delivery dates.”
The latest delay to the 777X program isn’t, however, just down to the machinist strike. In fact, most of the problems that have beset the much-delayed project are down to certification issues.
In August, Boeing was forced to temporarily ground its test fleet of 777X aircraft after yet another problem emerged during a test flight.
Boeing first started test flights of its 777X in early 2020, but the certification journey had to be quickly abandoned after a slew of technical issues, including with the aircraft’s flight control system, were discovered.
The journey to certification has been further delayed by further regulatory oversight following the fatal 737MAX crashes, as well as the more recent mid-cabin exit door blowout on Alaska Airlines flight 1283 in January. Issues with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner program and whistleblower complaints have also posed massive challenges for Boeing.
The 777X is the next iteration in Boeing’s hugely successful 777 programme. The aircraft comes in two sizes: the 777-8, which is capable of seating 384 passengers in a two-class configuration and the 777-9, which can hold as many as 426 passengers. The list price for the airliner ranges from $410 million to $442 million.
During the Dubai Air Show in late 2023, Emirates confirmed it had struck a deal with Boeing for 55 additional 777-9 aircraft and 35 slightly smaller 777-8 aircraft, which are both part of the yet-to-be-certified 777X family.
Emirates now has a total of 256 Boeing 777X aircraft on order.
Having built its fleet around just two aircraft types, the flagship Airbus A380 and Boeing’s 777, Emirates will soon add the Airbus A350 to its fleet, as well as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
