Emirates boss Tim Clark has suggested that delivery of the Boeing 777X could be delayed until 2026, as the planemaker deals with the fallout from the Alaska Airlines plug door blowout that occurred in January 2024.
According to Reuters, the CEO and President of Dubai-based airline raised these concerns while speaking at the UK Aviation Club.
“The 777X (delivery) is probably at the back end of next year and maybe 2026, if we’re unlucky,” Clark said.
The Boeing 777X is the largest twin engine jet in the world and has been wowing crowds on the airshow circuit over the past year, but the aircraft is still working towards certification.
However, Boeing remains adamant that deliveries of the 777X, which includes the 777-9 and 777-8, will commence in 2025.
Emirates is the largest customer for the ambitious Boeing long-haul jet, which was originally scheduled to launch in 2020.
At the UK Aviation Club, Clark also expressed some apprehension over Boeing’s safety issues and highlighted a recent report, commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) into the 737 MAX fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, that was conducted by an expert industry panel.
The report, published on February 26, 2024, stated that the panel observed a “disconnect” between the senior management at Boeing and the other staff members on “safety culture”.
“The FAA said there was a disconnect between the management and the safety system. All this is something that some of us have been saying for a long time,” Clark said.
The FAA instructed Boeing that it had 90 days to respond to the latest findings from the expert review panel report and provide a comprehensive action plan.
“They really need to do this. Whether this means a change in the governance model, I don’t know. When you change the governance model, it invariably involves changing the people around the old governance model,” Clark said.
Nevertheless, despite the challenges facing Boeing, Clark added that the “whole situation is salvageable.”