Emirates and Boeing announced that the two parties have finalized a purchase agreement for 30 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, while also reducing orders for the 777X family.
This agreement comes on the fourth day of the Dubai Airshow 2019. Emirates has cancelled 24 of its 150 total 777X family orders. The airline previously had 35 777-8 and 115 777-9 on order.
There is conflicting information on the number of 777X that have been cancelled, as the airline’s order book for the type decreased from 150 to 126, but at the same time a press release by the aircraft manufacturer suggests that 30 777X were converted to the 787.
It also remains unclear how the reversed orders are split between the two 777X variants. Depending on the version, that’s up to US $10.6 billion worth of cancellation according to current list prices. The 30 newly added Boeing 787-9 have a value of US $8.8 billion in 2019 average list prices. However, in both cases, the airline is likely to have received significant discounts.
A Dreamliner order was first announced by Emirates at the 2017 Airshow in Dubai. At the time, the companies agreed on 40 of the longer 787-10. This initial agreement has not been firmed up.
Earlier this week, Emirates had signed a deal for 50 Airbus A350-900.
The Dubai-based airline currently operates a fleet of Boeing 777 and Airbus A380. It is the world’s largest operator for both aircraft types.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
