Emirates airline will keep pressuring Boeing to build a bigger jet, its president Tim Clark said on Tuesday, revealing that delivery delays had cost more than $6 billion.
The Dubai-based long-haul carrier needs a larger plane to replace its giant Airbus A380s, which are already out of production and will be gradually phased out.
Emirates now wants Boeing to study a 鈥榮tretch鈥� version of its new 777-9, Clark told reporters at the Dubai Airshow, a day after the airline placed an order of 65 more 777X planes.
The 777X series, which includes the 777-8 and the 777-9, is already seven years behind schedule, with the latest delivery date pushed back to 2027.
鈥榃e want to have a good, hard look at the stretch of the 777-9,鈥� Clark said.
鈥榃hat we want them to do is commit to looking at it, and we want to have a real say in how that is designed.鈥�
鈥楤ut we will keep the pressure on,鈥� he added. 鈥業 think that they are alive to the need, but they鈥檙e just very much hung up on what they have to do at the moment.鈥�
Boeing, fighting back from a raft of problems including deadly crashes, has so far only agreed to a feasibility study for developing a larger 777X.
Emirates, already the biggest buyer of the Boeing 777, now has 315 more of the US manufacturer鈥檚 jets pending after its latest, $38 billion order.
Clark doused speculation about an Emirates order for the Airbus A350-1000 at the Dubai Airshow, the biggest in the Middle East.
But he was confident other airlines would buy a bigger 777X. 鈥業f you do this, we will not be alone. There be others out there who will want to take the stretch.鈥�
He also said that retrofitting existing planes while waiting for the Boeing deliveries had cost Emirates 鈥榡ust over $6 billion in cash鈥�.
鈥業鈥檓 not putting that at the door of Boeing, but put it this way: they are aware of the staggering effect that has had on an airline that is an organic business model,鈥� he said.
鈥楾hey鈥檙e accommodating and understand the problems,鈥� Clark added. 鈥楾he most important thing for us is not the cash, it鈥檚 getting the aeroplane up and flying.鈥�
On Monday, Brad McMullen, Boeing鈥檚 senior vice-president of sales and marketing, said the group had committed to study developing a larger plane.
鈥楾hat鈥檚 what we鈥檙e gonna do,鈥� he said.
Also on Monday, Emirates said delivery of the the 777X would start in the second quarter of 2027.
But after serial delays, Clark did not seem convinced.
鈥榃e鈥檒l see,鈥� he said.