By Ahmed Elimam and Tim Hepher
DUBAI (Reuters) -Dubai-based airline Emirates said on Monday it was ordering another 65 Boeing 777-9 jets, cementing its position as the world’s biggest buyer of wide-body jets as the U.S. planemaker agreed to carry out a feasibility study for a larger version.
Emirates valued the deal for Boeing’s largest in-production jet at $38 billion, though analysts say carriers typically win steep discounts for large transactions.
The announcement at the opening of the Dubai Airshow brings Emirates’ orders for the 777X family to 270 jets and comes despite recent delays in delivery of the world’s largest twin-engined jetliner.
“It is a long-term commitment that supports hundreds of thousands of high-value factory jobs,” Emirates CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told a news conference.
EMIRATES BACKS FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR 777-10
Emirates said its agreement with Boeing “provides strong backing” for a new feasibility study to be carried out by Boeing to develop a 777-10, a larger variant of its 777X family.
The deal provides Emirates with options to convert its latest order for the 400-seat 777-9 into the possible 777-10, if Boeing decides to go ahead with such a development, or else the smaller existing 777-8 version, the airline said in a statement.
Bloomberg earlier reported that Emirates was set to place an order for dozens of 777X jets.
Attention at the air show will now be on whether the carrier also orders more Airbus A350s.
Emirates is the largest customer for the 777X which is now seven years late after a $4.9 billion charge and a further one-year delay in deliveries to 2027, which was announced last month.
The airline’s president Tim Clark told a recent podcast hosted by Abu Dhabi-based The National that he hoped Boeing or Airbus would build larger models of their biggest long-haul jets but described both planemakers as “very risk-averse”.
Emirates, now in its 40th year, championed the Airbus A380 superjumbo, the world’s largest airliner, to feed its Dubai hub with long-haul passengers. But Airbus stopped producing the double-decker in 2021 after weak demand from other carriers.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher and Ahmed Elimam; Editing by Peter Graff and Joe Bavier)
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