After moving the delivery date, Emirates has confirmed that it plans to take delivery of the first of the 65 Airbus A350s ordered in October, as reported by Simple Flying. The initial plans to launch traffic with the first Airbus A350-900 in September failed due to delivery delays, and despite this, the carrier expects up to 5 aircraft by the end of the year.
The first route with the new aircraft in the Emirates fleet is Dubai – Bahrain, scheduled for October 15, 2024. Earlier this year, Emirates announced the first 9 routes it plans to operate with the Airbus A350, and they include Bahrain, Kuwait, Muscat, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Colombo, Lyon, Bologna and Edinburgh.
Emirates currently has two aircraft types in its fleet, the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 777. The entry of the Airbus A350-900 marks the return of Airbus twin-engine aircraft to the fleet, following the exit of the Airbus A330 in 2016. The president of Emirates, Sir Tim Clark, stated that the company is also considering the purchase of 50 A350-1000s, but only after the reliability of the Trent XWB-97 engine has been proven.
Additionally, the carrier expects the arrival of as many as 205 777X aircraft – the 777-9 should enter the fleet from 2025 to 2035, and the first 777-8 is expected in 2030. Finally, at the 2023 Dubai Air Show, Emirates agreed with Boeing to order 35 Boeing 787s (15 787-10 and 20 787-8), with deliveries starting in 2025.
It is interesting that Emirates also ordered 40 Airbus A330-900(neo) during the first order for the A350 in 2019, but they disappeared from the order books over time, while the number of A350s increased from the original 30 to the current 65.