Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, said on Wednesday at an online event that he urged Boeing to provide more details about the performance of the 777X, particularly in relation to its propulsion.
The carrier’s executive also charged the planemaker to inform the delivery dates of the new jetliner, currently scheduled for the end of 2023.
According Clark, it is essential to clearly understand what the 777X will be capable of in order to plan its operation. “We have no visibility on either delivery or on performance at this stage in the game. So we are kind of reserving our position on where we are on this airplane,” he said.
Emirates, which has already had 150 firm orders, has revised its agreement for 126 jets and may modify it again, Clark warned. The President of the company said he expected to have more mature conversations with Boeing in the coming months.
Project review
The 777X program is experiencing a major delay in its schedule. Expected to enter service in 2020, the aircraft can be certified only in 2023, but there is a certain skepticism about this term in the market.
In addition to development problems, as in the unprecedented GE9X turbofan, the 777X is undergoing revisions in part of its systems due to requirements of EASA, the European civil aviation agency.
The FAA’s 737 MAX recertification episode also made the work more judicious in order to avoid possible security gaps.
Boeing lists 361 gross orders for the 777X, but some of those planes would have been canceled.
