Emirates orders 30 Boeing 787s worth $8.8bn at Dubai Airshow

Dubai airline Emirates has signed a full purchase agreement for 30 Boeing 787-9 aircraft, worth $8.8bn at list prices, it announced at Airshow on Wednesday.

Under the agreement with Boeing, Emirates has exercised its right to substitute the B777X with B787s.

The deal includes Boeing 787 Dreamliners, with deliveries commencing in May 2023 and continuing for the next five years.

Emirates had previously placed an order for 40 Boeing B787-10 Dreamliners worth $15.1bn in November 2017, but order was not finalised.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates announces $15.1bn order for Boeing 787s

For the B777X, which has been facing delays, Emirates will enter into discussions with Boeing over the next few weeks on the status of deliveries, a statement said.

Emirates had committed to buy 40 Dreamliners at the Dubai Airshow in 2017 but the agreement was not yet finalised.

This takes Emirates’ total order with Boeing to 126 aircraft.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates chairman and CEO said: “This is an important investment and addition to our future fleet and network requirements, providing us the agility, flexibility and spread of seat segments when it comes to overall capacity to serve a range of destinations as we develop and grow our global route network.

“The 787s will complement our fleet mix by expanding our operational flexibility in terms of capacity, range and deployment to connect new city pairs and expand frequencies.

“We are also pleased to reaffirm our commitment to the Boeing 777x programme and look forward to its entry into service.”

Emirates is currently the world’s largest Boeing 777 operator with 155 777s in service today.

“In reducing the 777X orders, partially in lieu of the delays to flight testing, Emirates will be equipped with a much more flexible fleet that aligns itself to more disciplined capacity management on routes where demand often warrants a smaller airplane than the current 777-300ER or 777-200LR,” opined Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research.

This is the second major deal announced by Emirates at the Airshow this week.

On Monday, the airline placed an order for 50 Airbus A350 jets worth $16bn.

Read: Emirates revises Airbus order, signs $16bn deal for 50 A350s