Emirates Finally Pulls the Trigger: Orders 40 x 787-10 Dreamliners

Emirates Photo

Our firm order for 40 @Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners takes our total wide-body orders with Boeing to 204 aircraft. #DAS17 pic.twitter.com/8wcsfB64LH

— Emirates airline (@emirates) November 12, 2017

One of the world's largest airlines @emirates announce commitment for 40 787-10 #Dreamliners selecting the ultra-efficient 787 to power its future fleet. Airplane deal to sustain tens of thousands U.S. #manufacturing jobs #DAS17 https://t.co/ETDt3ImLzb pic.twitter.com/xp9RwSnGk5

— Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) November 12, 2017

In what many observers are characterizing as "surprising" Emirates Airlines order 40 787-10 Dreamliners to open the 2017 Dubai Air Show.  With this order, Emirates join the other two "ME" majors (Etihad, Qatar Airways) in ordering the 787 but the other major airlines in the region has also ordered the the 787 including: Saudi Arabian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Royal Jordanian, El Al Airlines, Gulf Airlines, Oman Air, and the Republic of Iraqi (Iraqi Airways) with a possible EgyptAir order announcement coming later in the air show.

The order is for 40 787-10 and 60 options for any model of the 787.  What is not clear is if this is a firm order or not as industry analyst Saj Ahmad (see his article here) has reported that this is not firm while Boeing's press release says nothing about the status of the order and Emirates Tweet (see above) indicates that this is a firm order. 

There is no other way to view this order but as a huge victory for Boeing and a repudiation of Airbus' product strategy after Emirates ordered, then cancelled an order for 70 A350-1000.  Since that cancellation, Emirates has gone on to order 150 larger 777-9s and now the 787-10.  The airlines, at this time, is still negotiating for a possible 25 x A380 order but this order will most likely be viewed as replacement of the early A380s that were delivered instead of being used for expansion.  Emirates has indicated that both the 777-9 and 787s will be used for both replacement and expansion of their fleet and business.

With this potential 100 aircraft order for the 787 and the 150 777 order, it appears that Emirates is banking its future on Boeing products and in buying (potentially) aircraft from the 787-9 to the 777-9 they are covering a wide array of range and capacities that this product line offers.

Boeing wasn't done though and announced an order with Azerbaijan Airlines for 5 more 787-8 and 2 unidentified freighters.  I believe that these 5 787-8s was the unidentified order for 5 787s that Boeing posted last Thursday on their weekly orders.  By Thursday we should know if Emirates' order is firm or not.