Dubai Air Show: Emirates signs for further Boeing 777X aircraft

Well, the Dubai Air Show is in full swing, with hometown airline Emirates starting things off with two announcements. We’ll cover the fleet announcement, with the airline signing for additional Boeing 777X aircraft 

The follow-on order will cover an additional 65 Boeing 777-9 aircraft, powered by GE 9X engines, worth US$38 billion at list prices, on the opening day of Dubai Airshow 2025.

The order will cover deliveries up to 2038.

This takes the airline’s total orderbook with Boeing to 315 widebody aircraft, comprising 270 Boeing 777Xs, 10 Boeing 777 freighters, and 35 Boeing 787s; and its orderbook with GE Aerospace for GE9X engines to a total of 540 units, including the 130 additional units signed today.

Over its 40-year history, Emirates has operated every model in the Boeing 777 family and today flies the largest 777 fleet in the world, powered by GE90 engines. Emirates’ 119 Boeing 777-300ERs, 10 Boeing 777-200LRs, and 11 Boeing 777 freighters connect Dubai to over 140 cities and facilitate trade, commerce and tourism traffic across six continents. 

Towards the 777-10?

Size is everything for Emirates, with larger aircraft always being wanted. Currently, the Boeing 777X  is offered in a -8 and -9 variants. It seems, however, Emirates wants to push Boeing further.

The agreement with Boeing also provides strong backing for Boeing’s feasibility study to develop the 777-10, a larger variant of its 777X family, with the airline signing up for options to convert its latest 777-9 order into the 777-10 or the 777-8.

In Quotes

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, said: 

“Emirates is already the world’s largest Boeing 777 operator and we are expanding our commitment to the programme today with additional orders worth US$ 38 billion for 65 Boeing 777-9s, and 130 GE9X engines. This is a long-term commitment and testament to our partnership with Boeing and GE, and to US aerospace.

“Each of our aircraft on order has been carefully factored into Emirates’ expansion plan, which is aligned to Dubai’s growth plans. Flying a young and modern fleet with innovative cabin products has always been a cornerstone of Emirates’ strategy, and we look forward to continue working closely with Boeing to receive delivery of our first 777-9s from Q2 of 2027, and to equip our latest aircraft with state-of-the-art, industry-leading onboard products.”

Commenting on the 777-10 study, HH Sheikh Ahmed, said: 

“Emirates has been open about the fact that we are keen for manufacturers to build larger capacity aircraft, which are more efficient to operate especially with projected air traffic growth and increasing constraints at airports. We fully support Boeing’s feasibility study to develop the 777-10 and have options to convert our latest 777-9 order to the 777-10 or the 777-8.”

Stephanie Pope, President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said:

“We are deeply honoured that Emirates has once again selected the Boeing 777X to power its future as the airline refreshes its world-class fleet and expands its vaunted global network. Boeing has been a proud supporter of Emirates over the past 40 years as the airline has grown into one of the world’s leading carriers and developed a reputation for excellence and innovation. We look forward to growing our partnership and for Emirates to fly Boeing airplanes for decades to come.”

Russell Stokes, President & CEO, Commercial Engines & Services for GE Aerospace, said:

“We are proud to deepen our decades-long partnership with Emirates as we advance the future of flight together. Already the world’s largest customer for GE90 and GP7200 engines, this additional GE9X order reflects Emirates’ confidence in our technology and our team. We are ready to support Emirates in every way to leverage the efficiency and durability of our industry-leading solutions and services.” 

Backlogs

Emirates’ fleet position is one based on three families of aircraft – the Airbus A380, the Boeing 777 and the Airbus A350. The current breakdown from the airline is as follows:

The airline will be adding a new family, the Boeing 787, to its fleet in the future.

With both the A380 and Boeing 777-300ER families having production halted, Emirates will need new feeder stock to replace older aircraft (and Emirates has had to refurbish extra Boeing 777-300ER aircraft due to delays with the delivery of the first Boeing 777X aircraft, with the project running multiple years behind).

However, with Emirates’ demands for larger aircraft all the time, we’ll have to keep our eyes open.

Certainly, small aircraft are not in this airline’s future.

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