Boeing confirms German carrier Lufthansa will be the launch operator for the in-certification 777-9, settling uncertainty about whether Emirates Airline might take the first of the type.
The US airframer’s chief financial officer Brian West on 28 January named Lufthansa as the initial operator for the type. Boeing also says it is working through challenges relating to seat certification specific to Lufthansa’s jets and that it still anticipates delivering the first 777-9 in 2026.
The seat certification issues are separate from Boeing’s wider challenge of achieving type certification for the 777-9 from the Federal Aviation Administration.
In recent years, there had been uncertainty about whether Lufthansa or Dubai’s Emirates would be first to receive the massive Boeing twinjet.
In 2017, Boeing confirmed that Emirates had taken the title of 777-9 launch customer from Lufthansa, according to a FlightGlobal report. Boeing later claimed it had not named a launch operator.
Lufthansa holds orders for 27 777Xs – including 777-9s and 777-8 Freighters – while Emirates has orders for 205 777Xs, according to Boeing data.
Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg says the company has been working through “seat certification issues” with Lufthansa’s jets, including its on-order 787s and 777-9s. The issues involve interior monuments that include the seats, he says.
Lufthansa is equipping its long-haul jets with new seats made by several manufacturers as part of a new product it markets as “Allegris”.
Boeing is familiar with the seat certification difficulties because it has been working on the issue with Lufthansa’s 787s. But Ortberg says the problem should not hold up Boeing’s first 777-9 delivery.
The “777X interior in general is a more complex interior, but that’s baked into our overall certification programme”, Ortberg adds. “So, we’ve got time to go work the seat certification issues.”
The bigger question is when the FAA will certificate the 777-9. Boeing grounded its four-strong 777-9 test fleet between August last year and this month after discovering fractures in thrust links – a part that connects the engines to the aircraft’s structure.
“We have a good handle on fixing the thrust-link issue,” Ortberg says without elaborating.
