Following action-packed day 1 and day 2 of Dubai Airshow 2023, day 3 was relatively slow. Day 4 was slow – at least on the new airliner orders front – as well. That said, it still saw an order for Airbus widebody aircraft by Emirates.
Continue reading to learn more about that order as well as some of the other developments from the fourth day of the show.
Emirates Orders Additional 15 Airbus A350s
On the first day of the show, Emirates made a splash with a mega order for 90 Boeing 777Xs and five 787s on top of its existing orders for the aircraft. With that, the airline brought its Boeing order backlog up to a total of 240 aircraft.
Compared to that, the fourth day’s Airbus order is modest. Emirates ordered 15 Airbus A350-900s, bringing its total A350-900 order up to 65 airframes. All of the ordered A350-900s are expected to be delivered between mid-2024 and 2028.
Notably missing from the new order is the longer A350-1000 as Emirates is not happy with the current frequency of engine maintenance visits required. The airline might still order the type later on, though, assuming Rolls-Royce is able to rectify those problems.
All of the aircraft Emirates has on order are part of a shift in strategy Emirates has to make as the days of its A380 – a now-discontinued aircraft – are numbered. It will be interesting to see what routes the new aircraft – especially the smaller 787-8s and A350-900s will be deployed on.
Airbus Secures Connectivity Deals, Emirates Signs an MRO MoU & More
In addition to aircraft orders, Airbus and Boeing secured deals for equipment and ancillary services too. On the fourth day, those included:
- Airbus secured three orders for HBCplus: A total of 71 aircraft was added to the satellite connectivity solution’s order backlog including 60 Emirates A380s (in addition to the 50 A350-900s which were the solution’s launch order earlier this year), five Air Algeria A330neo, and six Air India A350-900s.
- Emirates and Boeing signed an MRO-related MoU: The two companies will partner on using advanced maintenance technologies involving the use of drones, and virtual and augmented reality to streamline the maintenance of the airline’s large fleet of Boeing 777s.
Summary
On the fourth day of Dubai Airshow 2023, Airbus managed to secure an order for the A350 from Emirates in addition to orders for its HBCplus connectivity solution.
That said, even without an aircraft order on the fourth (or third for that matter) day of the airshow, Boeing is still considerably ahead of Airbus in terms of the total number of airframe sales secured during the airshow.
Tallying up all the orders announced during the airshow so far, Airbus secured 51 orders for the A220 and A350 (with additional 20 options) while Boeing secured nearly 200 firm orders for the 737 MAX, 777X, and 787 with options for more. Three airlines including Egyptair (via Air Lease Corporation in the case of Boeing), Emirates, and Ethiopian placed orders with both manufacturers.
