Emirates Orders 65 More 777Xs, Supports 777-10 Feasibility Study

DUBAI—Emirates is hoping to convince Boeing to launch and develop an even larger version of the Boeing 777X after signing up for an additional 65 of the type at Dubai Airshow.

Emirates Chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum said on the opening day of the show that the airline supports a “feasibility study” to develop the 777-10 and has rights to convert the new order to either the 777-8 or a future -10, should Boeing go ahead with it.

Al Makhtoum’s comments appeared to catch senior Boeing officials by surprise. Mike Sinnett, senior vice president of product strategy, product development and development programs at Boeing, said that “for now our focus is purely on the 777-9, -8F and -8.” 

Sinnett added that the company continues to do product development studies on other variants but that it was “too soon” to make any conclusions on what a potential 777-10 stretch configuration could look like. The order came a day after his colleague Stephanie Pope confirmed the 777-9 would move to its next stage of certification in the coming days.

Sinnett did, however, acknowledge that the baseline GE Aerospace GE9X engine already powering the 777-9 has plenty of additional thrust margin to handle whatever power an extended fuselage version might require. Although the GE9X is rated at 105,000 lb-thrust for the 777-9, the engine has already demonstrated up to 134,000 lb.-thrust in ground tests.

From previous comments made by Emirates President Tim Clark, a 777-10 would be a relatively modest stretch compared to the original leap from the baseline 777-200 to the 777-300/300ER or the 777-9. The original 777-300ER was stretched to 242 ft. in length, or around 4-ft. longer than an Airbus A380, with the addition of a nine-frame (189-in.) aft fuselage extension and a 10-frame (210-in.) forward fuselage plug.  For the 777-9, the fuselage was extended a further 9 ft., while the wingspan was also increased to 212 ft. with the addition of 6.5-ft. tip extensions.

Emirates has been actively promoting the idea of larger twin-engine aircraft for several months, pushing Boeing to stretch the 777X further and Airbus to develop a larger variant of the A350 that would add passenger capacity beyond what the A350-1000 offers.

That Boeing appears to be prepared to discuss the further stretch of the 777X puts pressure on Airbus to consider a larger variant of the A350. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told Aviation Week earlier this year that such a version could be a logical step in the longer term, but that Airbus is focused on production ramp-up for now.

Emirates is the largest operator of the A380 and plans to continue flying the type into the early 2040s. It wants a replacement for them that comes as close as possible to it in terms of seating capacity. In its own configuration, the 777-9 has 140 fewer seats than the A380 in comparable cabin layouts. “After Airbus stopped [production of] the A380, the 777-9 is the biggest aircraft,” Al Maktoum said.

The order for 65 more 777Xs comes on top of earlier commitments for 205 777Xs including -8s, -9s and -8Fs. Emirates has outstanding orders for 315 Boeing aircraft, also including 30 787s. Deliveries of 777Xs will continue “all the way to 2038,” Al Maktoum said. “I assure you that each and every aircraft has been carefully factored into Emirates’ growth plans,” he added.

Emirates should have received its first 777-9 in 2020. Boeing recently pushed first deliveries from 2026 into 2027, making the airline’s planned growth more difficult to achieve. Emirates has reacted by extending 777-300ER leases and retrofitting the in-service fleet with new business class seats, among others.

Emirates also ordered 130 additional GE Aerospace GE9X engines powering the aircraft. Emirates Deputy President Adel Al Redha said that the 787 order remains unchanged and was not a subject in the negotiations.