Emirates Really Wants A Bigger 777X

Emirates President Sir Tim Clark is once again upping the pressure on planemaker Boeing to continue innovating and pushing the limits of the 777X.

Speaking at the Farnborough Airshow, Clark flagged that while the 777-9 is a fantastic aircraft, he wants not just this model, but also the prospective and much larger 777-10 acting as a stretch on the programme.

Now, with his strong orderbook and Boeing’s own data, Clark is optimistic that the tests and results can prove the feasibility of such a model entering service.

Clark Pushes For A Bigger 777X Again

Clark’s new comments build from the prolonged saga of the 777-9, which is nearing its endpoint as certification is coming and a delivery is expected in Q2 2027, with the Dubai-based carrier getting its first look at a completed, ready jet by November this year.

With the capabilities of the 777X improving, the upside is the extended chance of development and the view that there’s enough backing to take this to market, thanks to performance and structural data.

The amount of testing Boeing has done with the 777-9, flagged by Clark as one of the most grueling seen, means the jet is mature at the time of delivery but also gives a bucketload of data to the manufacturer that it can sift through and then use this to make decisions on the future.

The latest push for the 777-10 isn’t the first, and won’t be the last. Clark has repeatedly called for a larger jet to help phase out its A380s and ensure ultra-high-capacity missions can still be conducted, as its business model out of Dubai needs it.

While Emirates will not accept early build 777-9s and has often expressed its frustrations with the 777X programme for its quality slips, communication issues and reliability woes, it’s still a platform needed within the fleet.

Clark expects the 777-9s handed over to be completely up to date, and not 7 years old by the time of delivery, putting them at mid-life. This doesn’t work for an airline like Emirates, which intends to keep its fleet youthful where possible; it wants its flagship new.

The Dubai Airshow Order Pushed The 777-10 Concept

Clark’s take on the progress of the 777-10, and the strong desire for a model to be launched, is off the back of the campaign, which will be properly launched in 2025. During the 2025 Dubai Airshow, the airline ordered 65 additional 777-9s worth $38 billion at list price, taking the backlog to 270 jets for the long-haul jet and its Boeing widebody orderbook to over 300.

The details in the 777-9 contract announcement revealed a great deal about the Dubai-based carrier’s intentions. At signing, it noted that it strongly endorsed Boeing’s agreement that, with this latest contract, it would conduct its own feasibility study for a larger 777-10.

With Boeing committed to the feasibility study, Emirates, if the planemaker chose to move forward, would then have the flexibility to convert existing deliveries and orders within the backlog to the larger model it has been pushing for.

For Emirates, the 777-10 acts not only as an A380 replacement in an era when quad-engined superjumbos are no longer favoured by manufacturers, but also brings much-needed capacity relief to existing and future markets. Emirates doesn’t expect demand to collapse, and with its larger planes departing, it needs aircraft with strong capacity to avoid seat reductions into cities where slots are constrained as is.

A stretched 777X would ultimately fall just shy of the superjumbo it hails today as its flagship, but it would be the only thing that could come close enough and is feasible. That feasibility and push follow repeated attempts to get an A380neo-type aircraft from Airbus that went unanswered.

A possible 777-10 won’t have free rein at the market; across the Atlantic, Clark is also aware that the improved performance of the 777-9 and interest in the 777-10 have sparked Airbus to look at its A350 Stretch concept, which dates back to the 2010s, as a competing offer.

Airbus has said it has seen demand for an A350 Stretch from customers, though this is private interest, with Emirates the only airline to have come out openly and discussed a desire to purchase. While it may not be an A380neo, there is evidently demand for an ultra-high-capacity airplane on a more efficient basis; now airlines must be patient and see if their hopes amount to something.