Currently, Emirates Airline operates a fleet comprising only the Airbus A380 aircraft and Boeing 777s. While Emirates wanted more A380s, in an improvised version, Airbus shut down A380 production for a lack of future orders. This forced Emirates to rethink its fleet renewal strategy. The airline intends to keep the A380 aircraft flying through the mid-2030s, but they will be retired along the way.
Emirates now has the Airbus A350-900s, the Boeing 787-9 and the Boeing 777X to form the next backbone of the Emirates fleet. In May, Emirates unveiled the curtain on their plans for the A350 aircraft, which was then intended to be received by the airline in 2024. Emirates has 65 A350-900 aircraft on order at the moment, and it refused to order the A350-1000 aircraft to the fleet at the Dubai Airshow 2023. The A350s, per Emirates, are designated for medium and long-haul operations.
The Emirates A350-900 aircraft will offer three cabin classes: 32 Business Class seats, 21 Premium Economy seats, and 259 Economy Class seats. These aircraft are earmarked to serve short—to medium-haul cities on the Emirates network.
Emirates Delays Induction of the A350 for the fourth time
Emirates was supposed to receive its first A350 over a month ago and launch its first flight on September 15, 2024. However, this plan has been delayed repeatedly. We just saw the fourth delay posted to the aircraft’s entry into service.
- In May 2024, Emirates announced plans to launch operations of the A350 on September 15, 2024, with the first flight being operated between Dubai and Bahrain (DXB-BAH).
- In June 2024, Emirates updated the schedule to reflect delivery delays. The inaugural flight for the A350 was hence set for November 4, 2024, between Dubai and Edinburgh (DXB-EDI)
- The flight schedule was updated in August 2024 to show that the first flight between Dubai and Edinburgh would be operated on December 2, 2024.
- In mid-October 2024, DXB-EDI’s inaugural with the A350 was delayed to December 16, 2024.
And now, Emirates has pushed the entry into service for the A350-900 into 2025. AeroRoutes notes that the current entry into service flight for the A350-900 will operate on January 15, 2025. Here are the routes that were previously announced, with their new dates of launch of service with the A350:
- Edinburgh (EDI) on January 15, 2025
- Ahmedabad (AMD) on February 1, 2025
- Bahrain (BAH) on February 1, 2025
- Kuwait City (KWI) on February 1, 2025
- Mumbai (BOM) on February 1, 2025
- Colombo (CMB) on March 1, 2025
- Lyon (LYS) on March 1, 2025
- Bologna (BLQ) on March 15, 2025
In the meantime, Airbus operated the fourth test flight, and the longest, with the first Emirates A350-900 aircraft, to be registered as A6-EXA, on October 22, 2024. Emirates COO Adel Al Redha indicated to The National just about ten days ago that the airline would take delivery of its first A350 aircraft in the first week of November 2024, and now things have moved again.
At the moment, it is clear that Emirates might be pretty close to receiving the aircraft, but something else is driving the delay. Otherwise, how does Emirates seem to have enough A350s to plan to switch over four routes to the A350 in one day? Many, including yours truly, expect this to be a delay related to the cabin product on board.
Bottomline
Emirates has just moved the schedule for the A350 entry into service by an additional month to January 2025. This is the fourth time the airline has delayed the entry into service, and it remains to be seen if the schedule sticks this time around. Eventually, they will get it done, and I’m more curious about what is causing the delays.
What do you think of Emirates’ A350 EIS delays?
Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.
(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)
We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.
Leave a Reply