The long-awaited debut of the widebody A350-900 on Emirates Airline will be delayed by almost two months. Previously scheduled for September 15th, the first flight will now take place on November 4th and its destination will be changed from Bahrain to Edinburgh, Scotland.
The reason, according to the Dubai-based carrier, is that Airbus will not be able to deliver the aircraft in August, as had initially been planned.
At the beginning of last week, the planemaker informed the market that it was reviewing its guidance for 2024, expecting to deliver 770 commercial aircraft instead of 800 jets.
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According to the company, these are reflections of persistent problems in the supply chain.
Emirates had announced the first destinations that would receive the A350-900 in May. Neighboring Bahrain would be the first city to have the 309-seat aircraft from September 15, and Kuwait the following day. In October, the widebody would take over routes to Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
According to the airline, there is no change in the announced flight frequencies, but it will place another aircraft to take over these flights until the A350s are delivered.
Emirates had hoped to take delivery of 10 A350-900s by March 31, 2025, but that schedule may have been affected by the delay.
Airbus has closed the sale of 65 A350-900s to Emirates Airline, which will complement the A380s and Boeing 777s currently in service.
The Dubai-based airline also intended to order the larger A350-1000 in November, but did not reach an understanding with Rolls-Royce regarding the wing time of the Trent 1000 engines.