Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) seems less than hopeful for the delivery deadline of the Boeing 777-9. Carsten Spohr, the CEO of the airline, said that the airline would add the latest twin-engine aircraft to its fleet no earlier than in 2022.
At the internal company meeting on September 29, 2020, the CEO of the largest German airline allegedly told the staff that the carrier’s first Boeing 777-9 delivery was postponed at least until the middle of 2022.
Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) has a total of 20 777-9s on order, which the German flag carrier initially was supposed to take starting in 2021. However, the company took a realistic view of the problems surrounding the production of the aircraft.
The entry into service for the Boeing 777X family has already been delayed significantly as a result of a temporary production shutdown earlier in March 2020 that was related to COVID-19. The 777-9 was originally scheduled to complete its first test flight in the middle of 2019 but was then pushed forward. The first flight test was completed only on January 25, 2020.
Due to current production and testing delays, it seems likely that none of the carriers will take delivery of the twin jet on schedule.
Much earlier than the German carrier, Emirates was the first to announce the delivery delay, postponed at least until 2022. Earlier in June 2020, Adel Al Redha, the chief operating officer of Emirates, doubted that Boeing would not be able to deliver the aircraft on the scheduled date of 2021.
The Dubai-based airline has ordered a total of 150 Boeing 777-9s and was expecting to take the first delivery of the aircraft in 2021 like Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA). Emirates did not publish any new date.