Emirates’ current situation might just be the clearest example of how the aircraft manufacturer duopoly leaves airlines choosing between the lesser of evils, rather than something they’re actually excited about…

Emirates reportedly plans to order 30+ A350-1000s

Until recently, Emirates had a really streamlined fleet, consisting of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s. No airline loves the A380 as much as Emirates, though unfortunately even Emirates’ commitment to order more of the planes wasn’t enough to get Airbus (and a partner) to invest in new engines, and keep production going.

Emirates’ initial plan was to rely almost exclusively on the Boeing 777X for fleet renewal, since that’s the largest aircraft that’s expected to be manufactured in the future. The airline has 205 of these planes on order, and desperately wants to take delivery of them.

The issue is, Boeing can’t actually get the plane certified. While it was supposed to enter service in 2020, it has now been delayed by at least seven years, so it’ll enter service in 2027 at the earliest. With every passing year, it seems like we’re one year further from the plane entering service.

So Emirates has had to get creative in recent years, and order other aircraft. We’ve seen Emirates order 65 Airbus A350-900s (which have already started to join the fleet). We’ve also seen Emirates order Boeing 787-8s and 787-10s, though that almost feels likes a placeholder order that can be negotiated, rather than anything else, given the lack of a firm delivery timeline.

Well, it sounds like Emirates might be planning on yet another new aircraft variant soon. Bloomberg is reporting that Emirates is in advanced talks to order at least 30 Airbus A350-1000s, with options for more. So this would be the larger variant of the A350, complementing the existing A350-900s. An agreement could be announced in the coming days, at the Dubai Air Show.

So there are no guarantees, but it sounds like this could very well become a reality sooner rather than later. It’s the latest example of Emirates just not knowing how to deal with the seemingly never-ending 777X delivery delays.

Emirates would order A350-1000s in spite of criticism

The Airbus A350-1000 is an incredible plane for passengers, and it has amazing per-seat economics. So you might be thinking to yourself “well that sounds like a great fit for Emirates, why hasn’t the airline already ordered this plane?”

Well, Emirates doesn’t think so highly of the plane. Emirates executives have long criticized the A350-1000, with Emirates President Tim Clark in the past having called the Rolls-Royce engines on the plane “defective.”

The turbines on the A350-1000 have overly frequent maintenance cycles, making reliability of the aircraft an issue. This is especially rough in the Middle East, where hot weather puts even more strain on the plane (including the engines).

Rivals Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways both fly the A350-1000, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have issues with the plane. For example, Qatar Airways has elected not to order more A350s, and has instead recently placed a huge Boeing aircraft order.

Rolls-Royce has been working on improving the performance and durability of these engines, as part of a $1.3 billion investment. In testing, the company has even been spraying sand into the blades, to simulate conditions in the Middle East. We’ll see what comes of this, but it’s hard to rely on something that isn’t yet a sure bet.

Bottom line

Emirates is reportedly nearing an order for at least 30 Airbus A350-1000s. While the airline really wants the Boeing 777X, that plane has now been delayed by at least seven years, so Emirates can no longer rely on the plane for growth.

Emirates has already started taking delivery of some A350-900s, and may now pick up the bigger variant as well. The issue is that the A350-1000 has serious engine durability issues, which are especially bad in the Middle East, given the climate.

It really is a sad state of affairs for aircraft manufacturing, eh? Though in fairness, in this case it’s the engine manufacturer rather than the aircraft manufacturer as such.

What do you make of Emirates’ potential Airbus A350-1000 order?