Early airline customers continue to voice concerns as to whether they will receive Boeing’s already delayed new 777X widebody next year as planned.
Speaking during a 23 May investor conference, Boeing chief financial officer Brian West said the manufacturer still expects its 777-9 will enter service in 2025, despite concerns raised by executives with two 777-9 launch customers – Emirates Airline and Lufthansa – that they might not receive the jets until 2026.
In March Emirates Airline president Tim Clark had suggested 777X delivery ”could be the back end of next year, but more likely early 2026” and asked about it during a media briefing at the IATA AGM, which the airline is hosting in Dubai, Clark was still unsure.
”Can they give us concrete assurances the [777-9 delivery] dates will be fixed? No they can’t,” he said.
Clark, who was due to meet new Boeing Commercial Airplanes head Stephanie Pope during the AGM, adds: ”I’m probably one of the most vocal in the industry about Boeing. Why do I say that? Because we’ve got 210 aircraft to come.
“We’ve got freighters to that are delayed. We’ve got the 777-9 which I’ve got no visibility on. These are critical and the business has had to take on $3 billion cash programme to retrofit aircraft because we are losing ground on product – seats, televisions, everything else.
“We used to be the innovator – people would follow us,” he says. “I get extremely exasperated… that we are unable to move at the pace we want.”
Speaking later during a media briefing at the AGM, Lufthansa Group chief executive Carsten Spohr echoed concerns about the timeframe.
”Offically the delivery is still in 2025, at least for Lufthansa being the launch customer. And of course unless Boeing changes, that’s the information we use,” he says.
”But I share Tim’s worry that there could be additional delays which would of course create issues for us, because these aeroplanes are needed not for growth, but to replace older airlplanes which we fly longer. So I share the concern, but 2025 is still the official date.”
Two early Asian customers for the type told FlightGlobal they have not been told of any delays.
Shinichi Inoue, president of All Nippon Airways, says: ”We are co-ordinating the timing of the deliveries based on our mid- to long-term strategy…and we expect to see deliveries of our first Boeing 737-8s and 777-9s in fiscal year 2025. We are communicating with Boeing regarding any possibilities of delays.”
Cathay Pacific meanwhile says: ”We haven’t heard anything about delays – we are still expecting the first to arrive in the latter half of 2025.”
