The US planemaker’s win at the show coincides with Airbus saying last week that deliveries will be later than planned for its A350-900. The delay comes four months after Airbus said it would push back the debut of the largest A350, the A350-1000, which competes directly with the 777-300ER, to add more thrust after customers demanded more payload and range.
“It’s early days for the A350, but they will need to take Emirates’ views into their design work as Boeing has had to do for the 777 if they want to be confident of large future orders from the carrier,” said John Strickland, a director at UK aviation advisory firm JLS Consulting Ltd.
Emirates President Tim Clark has been critical of Airbus’s design improvements on the A350-1000, saying the plane is heavy and risks falling short of performance requirements.
Airbus now plans to introduce the jet, which will be made of composite materials, in 2017. The first model, the A350-900, is slated for the first half of 2014, Airbus said last week. That’s as much as six months later than the previous date.
Airbus says its revamped A350-1000 design, whose planned entry into service has been postponed by 18 months, will be 25 percent more fuel efficient and can carry 4.5 tons of additional weight. The aircraft will seat about 350 people, compared with about 365 on the 777 that Emirates is buying.
Emirates said yesterday it will take delivery of the latest 777s starting in 2015. Chicago-based Boeing said it has worked closely with the Middle East carrier to adapt the program to customer needs.
Emirates is also the biggest buyer of the Airbus A380 double-decker jumbo, having ordered 90. The carrier has turned itself into the world’s leading airline by international traffic, using its location in Dubai as a global hub.
“We have an ambitious and strategic plan to continue growing our international network and especially increasing our long-haul, non-stop routes,” Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said.
The 777 is Boeing’s most profitable program, and the company is increasing monthly production to keep pace with demand. Boeing said the accord with Emirates contributed to the best year yet for the 777, surpassing 2005’s record 154 orders.
“The Emirates 777 order is a recognition that the 777-300ER has a long life ahead,” Doug Harned, a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co analyst in New York, said in a note to clients. “We see this order as raising the pressure on Airbus to ensure that the A350-1000 deliver on its promised performance.”
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