There are some airline executives who are known for their candor, including CEO Michael O’Leary of Ryanair and Sir Tim Clark, chairman of Emirate Airline.
Typically, they provide clearer forecasts about aircraft deliveries or the status of some projects. And it was Clark who revealed a new prediction about the delivery of the first 777-9, a widebody that Boeing has been trying to put on the market for years.
During a meeting at the Aviation Club event in London on February 29, the president of Emirates stated that he will no longer have the 777X in October 2025.
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The date had been announced during the announcement of the expansion of the order for the twin-aisle aircraft during the Dubai Airshow in November 2023.
Sir Tim Clark, however, said that not even Boeing knows when that will occur. “It could be late next year, but more likely early 2026,” he said, according to Flight Global.
Emirates Airline is the largest customer for the 777X, with 205 orders for the aircraft, both the 777-9 variant, with greater passenger capacity, and the 777-8 with greater autonomy.
Type certification without clear deadline
Boeing has been carrying out test and development flights for the 777-9 since January 2020 and has four aircraft in the program.
Despite this, the problems that planemaker faces in relation to the safety and quality of its production line have caused civil aviation agencies to tighten the certification process.
The FAA started to check each item and did not allow Boeing to check the process itself.
Given the prospects that type certification will take time to be granted, Boeing ended up pausing production of the aircraft, only to resume at the end of 2023.
As of January, Boeing said it had 510 firm orders for the 777X family, 453 of them net orders.
The uncertainty appears to have influenced some decisions by potential customers, who ended up choosing the rival Airbus A350 in recent orders.
