Emirates Airline announced a firm order for 50 A350-900 jets on Monday at Dubai Airshow. The deal replaces a Memorandum of Understanding signed in February when the airline exchanged part of an A380 order for 40 units of the new Airbus jet and also 30 A330-900neo.
Now, however, Emirates has decided to focus only on the A350, giving up the advanced version of the A330. The order also seals the official cancellation of an order for 38 A380 quad engines, of which the company is the largest customer in the world – in all there will be 123 aircraft until the last delivery.
According to Sheikh Ahmad Bin Sayeed Al Makhtoum, CEO of Emirates Airline Group, all of the company’s A350s will be of the -900 version with the first aircraft being delivered in May 2023 and the last by 2028.
Interestingly, Emirates was one of the first airlines to place a firm order for the A350 in 2007. However, in 2014, the company canceled the order and went on to study the acquisition of Boeing’s 787.
Emirates currently operates only the A380 and the Boeing 777 in two variants (134 units of the 300ER and ten of the -200LR), but by 2021 the company is expected to receive the new 777X from which it has a firm order of 150 aircraft.
Thus, even the Dubai airline is sticking to the new mid-size and long-range jets despite the claims of Emirates President Sir Tim Clark, who defended the use of the A380 in a recent interview.
