The 777X is Boeing’s new flagship aircraft. While the jet was initially supposed to enter commercial service in 2020, that timeline has been pushed back considerably. In recent times, it seems like Boeing has actually made some good progress on certification, with many people believing that a mid-2026 entry into service was realistic….
Unfortunately there’s some bad news — it seems like we might not see the first 777X enter service until 2027.
In this post:
The basics of the Boeing 777X project
For those not familiar, the 777X is Boeing’s newest version of the 777. It will come in two variants — the 777-8 and 777-9 — and the planes are more fuel efficient, longer range, and larger than existing 777s (and larger than 787s, which are also popular).
With there clearly not being a market anymore for planes like the A380 and 747-8, this will likely be the biggest new aircraft we see manufactured in the next decade.
There are currently around 565 orders for the 777X, so the plane is popular, though not as popular as the A350 or 787, which are lower capacity while still being long range and fuel efficient. Emirates is the single biggest customer for the 777X, as the airline has 205 of these jets on order, and is using these to replace Airbus A380s, as those jets retire.
However, airlines like All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines, are also counting on this jet for fleet renewal, all with plans to make this their flagship aircraft.
Boeing CEO calls 777X certification “mountain of work”
The Boeing 777X was initially supposed to enter service in 2020, but that timeline has slipped back considerably over the years. In 2024, the plan was still for the plane to enter service in 2025. However, in October 2024, Boeing revealed that entry into service would be pushed back to 2026.
Since then, it seems that many airline executives have been confident that the plane would enter service around the middle of 2026. Unfortunately that no longer seems realistic, as reported by Jon Ostrower at The Air Current.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has this week told investors that “the mountain of work is still there,” and “we are falling behind on the certification.” In reference to the plan for Lufthansa to be the launch customer around mid-2026, Ortberg said “we’re clearly behind our plan.”
The good news is that Boeing is making material progress with test flights, and it seems that things are actually moving in the right direction, rather than being fully stalled. That being said, getting a new plane certified is no small task.
Going back several years, the Boeing 777X was supposed to complete its first test flight in mid-2019, but that ended up being pushed back to early 2020. This delay was due to issues with the GE9X General Electric engines on the plane. These are the largest engines ever on a commercial plane, though they were having durability problems, causing a delay in certification.
That wasn’t the only issue, though — during the 777X certification process, a door also blew off during a stress test. But that was only the start of the issues. Then Boeing had its first round of issues with the 737 MAX, when two of the jets had fatal crashes. That doesn’t even account for Boeing’s production quality issues in 2024, which caused new senior leadership to be appointed. And then in late 2024, Boeing workers went on strike.
It certainly seems that with every passing year, the 777X just gets pushed back by another year. However, I do believe that things are at least moving in the right direction, in the sense that progress doesn’t seem to be fully stalled.
Why the 777X delay matters for passengers
It’s not just airlines that should care about Boeing 777X delivery delays, but passengers should as well. Delivery delays with the 777X have greatly messed up fleet planning at many airlines. Airlines order planes with specific strategies in mind, and a delay of this many years sure messes things up.
Several airlines intend to use the Boeing 777X as their new flagship aircraft, and will introduce new cabins on these planes. In some cases they’ve even had to change their plans. For example:
- Emirates will be installing its new first class on the 777X, which is otherwise only available on fewer than a dozen 777-300ERs; the planes will also be getting a new business class, which is long overdue for the 777
- Cathay Pacific was going to debut its new Aria Suites business class on the 777X, but is now retrofitting existing 777-300ERs with this product; the airline will still debut its new Halo Suites first class on this jet
- Singapore Airlines is expected to debut both a new first and business class product on its 777Xs
- Qatar Airways is expected to launch a new first class on the 777X, in addition to offering its refreshed Qsuites business class
- Lufthansa was going to debut its new Allegris first class and Allegris business class on the 777X, but due to the delays, this is now being installed on A350s and 787s first
Bottom line
The 777X is Boeing’s new flagship wide body aircraft. While the plane was supposed to enter service in 2020, that timeline has been pushed back by several years. The goal up until now was for the plane to enter commercial service around the middle of 2026, but Boeing CEO’s has admitted that the company is behind, and still has a lot of work to do.
So we’ll see how this plays out, but it sure seems like a 2027 entry into service is more likely. How incredibly frustrating. I’m really excited to finally fly this new plane, but it’s so unfortunate that with every year that passes, the plane is seemingly one additional year from entering service.
When do you think the Boeing 777X will actually enter service?
The FAA were made to look like fools by media when they certified the 737 Max. The first Max 8 flight was May 22, 2017 and the first problem with MCAS (due to a faulty attitude sensor and pilot not trained in recovery) was October 29 2018. Between May 22 and the first crash there were thousands of safe flights operated and some reports of how experienced pilots knew how to disable the MCAS in...
The FAA were made to look like fools by media when they certified the 737 Max. The first Max 8 flight was May 22, 2017 and the first problem with MCAS (due to a faulty attitude sensor and pilot not trained in recovery) was October 29 2018. Between May 22 and the first crash there were thousands of safe flights operated and some reports of how experienced pilots knew how to disable the MCAS in the case of a sensor failure. The only crashes were with pilots with very marginal type time.
So I think it's payback time by the FAA and their continued refusal to certify the Max-7 and Max-10 is perhaps some form of punishment. This appears to have continued into the certification of the 777-X.
Obviously an airplane will never crash and there will be no loss of life if it stays on the ground.
So far the 777-X, a model update, has over 4100 flight hours across more than 1500 flights and is still required to continue testing for at least another YEAR before certification.
Compare this to the A380, a TOTALLY NEW DESIGN, which was only required to have 2600 flight hours before certification December 12, 2006!
It's time for the FAA to get off the pot. Boeing's error was to try to make the Max into, like Airbus, a plane that flies itself. Historically Boeing expected the operators to first of all be pilots. Only recently are they joystick operators which should not be who is flying the aircraft.
How sad to think this was the same company that pioneered the venerable 'Queen of the Skies' ...
Incredible by the time it enters into service it already a dated design.
Concorde era design engineers used drawing boards, pencils and paper. Concorde manufacturing engineers used slide rules, callipers and micrometers to make the parts.
Today, Boeing engineers tools and equipment are issued by Boeing bean counters who know absolutely nothing about engineering …. there is little or no chance that anything Boeing currently manufacture will MAGA.
Many have said so below and I can only add …. If it’s a new Boeing …. I ain’t going!
"Boeing engineers tools and equipment are issued by Boeing bean counters who know absolutely nothing about engineering"
I don't think you know how modern engineering works. Quelle surprise.
So if testing is on-going, is the delay related to data analysis and software upgrades from those results? It does not appear to be hardware or structural? Would appreciate any insight.
I'm generally not the paranoid kind, but I'm going to give this model a good 3-5 years in service, before I'd consider booking onto one. Just way too many things wrong with it, way too early.
I'd be one thing if this was an all-new model, who always go through teething issues. But this is a rewinged+reengined version of one of the successful commercial aircraft of all time, just like the 737-MAX, yet look how...
I'm generally not the paranoid kind, but I'm going to give this model a good 3-5 years in service, before I'd consider booking onto one. Just way too many things wrong with it, way too early.
I'd be one thing if this was an all-new model, who always go through teething issues. But this is a rewinged+reengined version of one of the successful commercial aircraft of all time, just like the 737-MAX, yet look how badly that worked out.
Nah. Gonna give this b!tch a wide berth for a while.
Yeah, it seems as if Boeing will be beta testing this new aircraft on live passengers, sort of like they did with the MAX.
With over 4100 hours flight testing, compared to A380's 2600 hours, I can't see any data to support your 777-X "Beta" claim.
Are they making this thing at the BER airport? Endless delays.
Boeing : Aircraft Manufacturers :: Lufthansa : Airlines
I get the feeling that I'll be Keith Richards' age before this thing ever sees service. By then, it will be 2 generations obsolete. What a joke Boeing has become. They can't seem to get anything right, which is what happens when you put Wall Street butt kissers in charge of a former engineering company.
His actual age or his physical age?
Personally, I am happy this is delayed, passengers don’t need another “slave ship” with that density.
*will* slip to 2027
On this blog, either you or one of your more observant commenters stated that iff the 777X gets certified beyond January 2027, it'll have taken longer than the Concorde to get certified from development phase. Poor airlines (esp. Lufthansa) for having to rely on older jets, poor us for having to wait longer for Cathay's Aria Suites and other potentially blockbuster new First Class suites.
I once worked for a company that gave me an employee badge with their 30 priorities. 30. If you have 30 priorities, you don't have any priorities. Not surprisingly, their stock has languished the last decade, and thankfully I bailed. I feel like Boeing might be suffering the same lack of focus. 777X and 737-10 should be your only 2 priorities, nothing else.
The plane that will never arrive. Hope all the airlines that have ordered this are getting decent compensation given the havoc this has caused for a lot their fleet and product planning.
Boeing is climbing out of a huge ditch that also includes very delayed MAX7s and 10s.
The FAA is watching Boeing very closely - as they should have been doing earlier.
The A350-1000 is also delayed in part due to Rolls-Royce inability to deliver newly enhanced engines. When those new engines and Airbus gets the new fuel tank system installed, there will be a lot of 35Ks delivered over a fairly short period of time.
The race for new generation large widebodies is on.
No airline will be as badly affected by these delays as SQ. Almost every other operator of the aircraft (AF, QR, etc.) has introduced new premium products, or will do so soon, but SQ simply cannot hope that what it’s going to launch on the A359 in a few months can compete with what will replace the A389.
A350 and A380*
"but SQ simply cannot hope that what it’s going to launch on the A359 in a few months can compete with what will replace the A389."
What does that even mean?
What kind of seating configuration can a 777X offer that an A350 cannot?
This is becoming just laughable at this point. Might as well just give up if you’re an airline that placed an order for the 777X.
Maybe Boeing is just giving LH some extra time to have all the Allegris seats certified ;)