DUBAI—Emirates’ refurbished and retrofitted fleet will have to operate longer as delivery delays for new aircraft remain a detriment to having a large fleet available.

“The availability of manufacturers to deliver to a schedule, that’s history,” Emirates Airline President Sir Tim Clark told Aviation Daily in Dubai on the sidelines of this week’s Arabian Travel Market. “This is one of the reasons why we retrofit all these aircraft [i.e., its Boeing 777s] because we couldn’t be a hostage of delivery schedules which won’t be met. And each time we have been told regarding these issues that it’s the [supply chain].”

To maintain and grow its network, “Emirates has a fleet of around 265 aircraft which are flying today. Come what may from the manufacturers,” he said. “In May, 137 Boeing 777s and 86 A380s are flying.”

Emirates have 165 aircraft on order, including 50 A350s and 115 777X, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2024 and run through to 2031. 

“But if they slow [the production] for every reason, Emirates has still got the back of the retrofitted fleet; that’s basically the strategy behind it,” Clark said.

Clark said that July 2025 is the last date the carrier will accept for 777X delivery delays. “Maybe we might push it one or two months, but Boeing knows that,” Clark said. “I expect the first 777X deliveries to Emirates will fall somewhere between July and October 2025.”

Emirates’ A350-900s should be delivered between 2024 through to the end of 2026 and the beginning of 2027, meaning its fleet will grow at pace. “Much will depend on delivery streams and what we do with the 777-300ERs that will be retained and refurbished,” Clark said. Some of those 777s could remain in the fleet as spare aircraft. “The network will grow; there are many places on the planet that we don’t fly to, and we want to, and we will,” he said.

Clark said the A350-900, a 300-plus seater aircraft in three classes, is the right aircraft to get Emirates to several African points and for South and North America routes.

But for Emirates to be able to reach pre-pandemic levels, it needs the return of all its A380s, which have to be reactivated mechanically. “They have been sitting in the desert for so long,” Clark said. “I’ve got 20 to 25 A380s we need to be in the air now, but can’t be, with regards to supply chain, MRO capability, etcetera.” Maybe by summer of next year, he said, all those A380s will be in the air again.

Regarding Emirates’ network plans, when the A350s come in, and depending on if the 777X aircraft are on track, then Emirates will look to new African, European and American destinations with those aircraft. “I have 15 to 20 new destinations which could come immediately in my mind,” Clark said. “It is a good airplane, the A350-900.”

Emirates is also looking at the 787 family, Clark said, because the 787-10 has its take-off weight increased, offering a range of up to 6,400 nm. “That has brought it back to the performance window that we need for the [fleet] assessments. This range is good for routes that Emirates serves or for new ones,” Clark said. “We are always looking at [aircraft] orders. We are an organic growth animal, which has made us successful for all these years.”