As an airline, Emirates has a stellar reputation among passengers for providing a high-quality
inflight service. With its hub located at Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates,
the airline and its massive fleet of widebody aircraft connect people from
around the world with just a single transfer. In today’s video, let's take a look at which
aircraft the airline currently operates and what else we can expect in the near future.
At an overview level, Emirates' mainline passenger fleet consists of two types of
aircraft: The Boeing 777 and the Airbus A380. The Boeing 777 is then divided into two variants.
Each variant, their respective quantities, and average ages, are as follows:
119 Airbus A380-800s with an average age of just over eight years
124 Boeing 777-300ERs averaging nearly 10 years of age
10 Boeing 777-200LRs which have an average of just over 14 and a half years
Outside of the mainline commercial passenger fleet, it's worth noting that Emirates has a
single Airbus A319-100 available for private charter flights. Meanwhile,
the Emirates Group SkyCargo division operates 11 Boeing 777 freighters.
This relatively simple passenger fleet shows the large scale at which Emirates operates. Not only
do the airline's various high-capacity aircraft provide room for many economy class passengers,
but there is also ample room for premium cabins and suites - allowing the airline
to generate more revenue per square foot of cabin space.
Looking at all the destinations served by Emirates, the thought of filling its large
aircraft on a daily or near-daily basis might seem daunting. However, it's worth noting that the
airline has a little help from some smaller jets operated by flydubai. Indeed, flydubai and its
fleet of Boeing 737s operate codeshare services with Emirates, allowing passengers to reach more
destinations. The Boeing 737s operating with flydubai can access less popular cities but will
still allow customers flying with Emirates the ability to get to more places around the world.
In a 2020 statement on the partnership between the two airlines, Belgrade, Bucharest, Sofia,
and Zanzibar were among the flydubai destinations listed as being favorites of Emirates passengers.
The thought of more destinations and greater connectivity for Emirates passengers sounds
great. However, we can imagine that passengers would experience a huge
(and perhaps jarring) contrast in terms of inflight experiences between the two airlines.
Emirates offers some of the best inflight services across all cabin classes while
flydubai is designated as a low-cost carrier (albeit with a business class cabin).
For the first time in a long time, Emirates will have an extended period where no new
passenger aircraft will be added to its fleet. In fact, Emirates' youngest passenger aircraft
is an a A380 delivered in December 2021 (the last to ever be built). That's because the
carrier only took delivery of two aircraft in 2022, but these are both 777 freighters. Indeed,
the airline revealed that it doesn't expect any new jets to arrive until at least 2024.
The lack of new passenger aircraft can be largely attributed to delays surrounding
Boeing's 777X program but also delivery issues regarding the 787 as well as the A350.
On the 777X, some quick research reveals numerous articles and reports over the
years discussing Emirates' disappointment on missed deadlines and unmet expectations.
The carrier was originally expecting to have its first Boeing 777X flying passengers in 2020,
but this entry-into-service date has been continually delayed. Emirates now expects
to fly the 777X from 2025. However, we'll have to wait and see if this latest estimate holds true.
Emirates future fleet - 787 and 777xWhile the airline isn't expecting any new airframes
anytime soon, it will at least be keeping busy with the retrofit of its cabins. Indeed,
Emirates' mass retrofitting program officially began on November 1st 2022, with its first
Airbus A380 premium economy refit taking place at the Emirates Engineering Center in Dubai.
Prior to this, only brand new A380s delivered from Airbus had the new cabin onboard.
The ambitious refit program (the largest of its kind in modern commercial aviation) will see 120
aircraft in the Emirates fleet undergo a cabin revamp at a rate of around four planes per month.
All 67 A380s designated for refurbishment should be back in service by May 23rd, 2024. By then, the
carrier will start retrofitting 53 of its Boeing 777s, with a target completion date of March 2025.
Even if Emirates isn't expecting any new aircraft over the next year, let's look at which jets will
be part of its future fleet. In short, Emirates has the following passenger aircraft on order:
115 Boeing 777Xs
50 Airbus A350-900s
and 30 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners As mentioned earlier, Emirates'
lack of new aircraft was mostly due to Boeing and its certification and production issues.
Regarding the Boeing 787, the delivery of the Dreamliners was delayed by at least one year to
2024. Prior to the delay, the airline was due to receive the first of its 30 Boeing 787-9s in 2023.
Due to Boeing’s production and delivery issues for much of 2022, there were fears
that deliveries could have been pushed back further. Commenting on the issue back in May,
Emirates chief operating officer, Adel Al Redha, did not seem overly optimistic, stating,
"Now we know for sure that's not going to happen in 2023. It may not even happen in 2024.”
Thankfully for all parties involved,
787 deliveries resumed in August and Boeing has been working hard to clear its backlog.
When it comes to the Airbus A350s, The National reported in June 2022, that Emirates was aiming
to accept two A350s per month beginning in the summer of 2024. However, the airline's president,
Sir Tim Clark, said that discussions were taking place to take A350s earlier
due to 777X delays. At the International Air Transport Association’s annual general meeting,
Clark said: "We're talking to
Airbus about compressing the delivery scale, so we will probably get up to two a month, we've got
50 coming so we're trying to get the whole lot done in two years to pick up this big capacity,"
Interestingly, production issues haven't escaped Airbus either. Indeed,
delivery of A350s was supposed to start in May 2023. However,
Clark blamed A350 delivery delays on supply chain issues with the seats, galleys and TVs.
The Emirates president has also expressed concern over the ongoing surface degradation
issues most closely associated with Qatar Airways and its fleet of A350s.
According to a Reuters report last February,
Clark said the following to industry publication AirlineRatings:
"We made it absolutely clear in Toulouse now that, if we have the same problem on
one of our aircraft, we won’t take them over...Our engineers looked at these A350s
and said they are not in a good shape. So we say to Toulouse: by the delivery of the A350,
you will have cracked this problem, otherwise you will face us with no deliveries either,"
With all of this in mind, the timeline of Emirates' future fleet seems to lack
certainty in some respects. However, with 787 deliveries now back on track,
hopefully the airline can at least rely on Dreamliners arriving in 2024, if nothing else.
On the cargo side, Emirates placed a firm order for five new Boeing 777 freighters in November
last year, and is expecting two of the jets to arrive in 2024, and the remaining three in 2025.
To wrap things up, we can mention a few notable
incidents involving Emirates aircraft over the past year.
2022 wasn't off to a great start when, on January 9th,
one of the carrier's 777s had to reject takeoff due to a crossing aircraft.
Two independent sources had noted that this aircraft had not been granted proper ATC
clearance before initiating takeoff roll. On the issue, Emirates told Simple Flying that flight
EK524 was instructed by air traffic control to reject take-off on departure from Dubai,
adding that there was no aircraft damage, nor were there any injuries.
That same month, a 777 registered A6-EQD encountered flight control issues flying
from Dubai to San Francisco. The jet diverted to St. Petersburg,
Russia citing problems controlling the aircraft. The following month, on February 7th,
the exact same aircraft flying from Dubai to Chicago O'Hare received a flight control caution
message stating that the aircraft's left-hand elevator had been 'locked out.' The crew diverted
to the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, after performing all relevant checklists.
Unfortunately, Emirates' Airbus A380s had their share of issues as well. In July,
one of the airline's superjumbos landed at Brisbane International Airport with a
huge hole in its fairing. Emirates told us that one of the aircraft’s 22 tires
ruptured during cruise, causing damage to a small portion of the aerodynamic fairing,
an outer panel of the skin of the aircraft. Much more recently, on December 19th,
an A380 had an emergency slide open and inflate while the aircraft was parked at a
gate at Manchester Airport. This resulted in the flight from Manchester to Dubai to be canceled.
Despite these various incidents, Emirates announced in late December that it completed its
IATA Operational Safety Audit with no findings, a result akin to a "perfect
score" in its view. The carrier stated that the achievement was rare given how complex
airline operations can be, especially in the post-COVID expansion of operations.
So that's the overall state of the Emirates fleet in 2023,
as well as a look at its future aircraft in the years to come, and notable incidents in 2022.
Are you looking forward to the airline's new types arriving in
2024 and beyond? Let us know by leaving a comment!