Dubai’s Emirates airline has yet to sign off on its $76 billion purchase of 150 Boeing 777X wide-body planes as it extends a dialogue over issues such as performance guarantees, the manufacturer said in a report by Bloomberg.
Boeing head of sales Middle East Marty Bentrott was quoted as saying the 777X order announced at the Dubai Air Show in November amounted to a commitment rather than a firm contract, and work remained to be done in areas also including technical support and warranties before the deal is secured.
“I’d say we have agreement on probably the most significant part of contract, but there is a lot of additional detail to work out,” Bentrott told Bloomberg in an interview at the Bahrain Air Show. “That will take us a few more weeks to sort through.”
Last week Japan Airlines grounded one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners after staff spotted white smoke outside the plane at Narita International Airport and a battery cell showed clear signs of leaking.
It was the latest incident involving the 787 after the global Dreamliner fleet was grounded by regulators in January 2013 following the overheating of two batteries, forcing Boeing to make design changes
Bentrott told Bloomberg that beyond Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, which have already ordered the 777X, interest from other Middle Eastern carriers is likely to be more long term. He said companies including 777-300ER operators EgyptAir and Saudia Airlines were potential sales prospects.
“If you look at carriers like Saudia, I believe the 777X in future will be part of their fleet,” Bentrott told Bloomberg. “Do they need to make a decision now? No, they’re just in process of adding the -300ERs, so I think it’ll be several years away.”
James Hogan, CEO of Etihad, which is the Dreamliner’s biggest customer with 71 planes on order, has described the Japan Airlines grounding as “one of those challenges”.
“The 787 is going to be a great aircraft,” Hogan told Arabian Business on the sidelines of the Etihad Regional airline launch in Zurich on Friday.
“If you look through the history of aviation – that’s why don’t get in the front of the queue – all the types have their issues: the A380 had the wiring issue, the A340 had the rudder issue and that was grounded for months, so that’s one of those challenges.
“We’re going to be the largest operator of the 787 product. We take our first 787 at the end of this year – I’m looking forward to bringing the aircraft on board.”
Bentrott told Bloomberg that EgyptAir also had new 777s and it may be some years before it was ready to upgrade, though the carrier had yet to make decisions on other requirements.
Bentrott said Boeing regarded the 787 Dreamliner as better suited to smaller Mideast operators such as Gulf Air and Royal Jordanian Airlines, which had already ordered the plane.
Iraq, whose flag-carrier is also taking the Dreamliner, provided further order prospects.
“In terms of commercial aviation the Middle East will stay robust,” Bentrott told Bloomberg. “The region is still growing and we’re very bullish on this part of the world.”
Follow us on
