Emirates will be making some major changes to its fleet in the coming years, and this has some interesting implications for the carrier. Emirates recently announced some updates to its fleet, including modifying its Boeing 787 order.
Continue reading: Emirates Boeing 787 Dreamliner: What We Know So Far
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
the -10 will be used on high demand routes near Dubai if they get first class. no first class means they will be sent to high traffic low yield destinations like Bangkok. the -8 could be used for thin routes into Africa and Central Asia
Ben,
Seattle Times is reporting that Boeing has said the FlyDubai orders are *not* a transfer of the former Emirates 787-9 order, and was separately placed.
It’s going to be weird to see an airline so heavily reliant on the A380 & 777, and thus the hub-and-spoke model, get 787s. Actually, given that they used to fly the similarly sized A330 & A340 back in the day, it’s going to be more like them coming full-circle lol.
That being said, Sir Tim’s comments and the fact that they’ve delayed the delivery date to 2025 really reminds me of United’s A350 order. Time will tell if EK will ends up receiving these planes I guess.
I don't understand the logic behind putting first class on the B787 but not the A350. Isn't the A350 wider? It would make more sense for that plane to get first class given the wider cabin. Etihad did the same thing, though to be fair, they got the A350 much later than the B787
To add to my previous comment, I think we can all agree that they’ll go for 3-3-3 in Economy if they do end up taking delivery of the Dreamliner. Hopefully they’ll do what they did for the 777 and put 34” of pitch between the seats to make up for that (lack of) width.
EK hasn't outright said it, but the strategy most publicly presumed is that the 787s will remain regional as both a route opener (B788) and cattle hauler (B78X).
So it makes sense if they maintain F, as there's plenty of demand for it within EK's regional system.
Contrasting to the suggestion in this article, there's no indication that EK plans to fly them ULH; supported by neither aircraft being all that adept in doing either.
Distance of the longest prior scheduled flight with a B788 (DFW-PEK) would barely reach NYC from DXB, and that's before you take desert heat into account for takeoff planning. And the B78X doesn't have the practical range to cross the Atlantic nor venture into Oceania, from DXB.
A350s on the other hand, can do both. So it'll be EK's ULH route opener, for routes without much F demand.
Or so the prevailing assumption goes.
The longest prior *scheduled* flight with a 788 was Aeromexico PVG-MEX eastbound which at 8026smi is significantly longer than DXB-JFK (6849smi). Currently Ethiopian flies ORD-ADD (7577mi) with its 788s and Air India flies DEL-IAD (7506smi, incl. westbound), which, blocked at 15:55 and air time realistically in the 14:30-15:15 range, would translate to DXB-SEA/ORD/MCO as doable for EK -- especially if they use a less dense configuration.
Should also be noted that Emirates placed, then cancelled, an order for A330NEOs as well.
So it's not just the 787 per se..... Emirates apparently isn't sure if it wants aircraft in the 200-250 seat market overall.
Seems that with FlyDubai getting 787s, EK has even less reason to want to be in it.
I'm aware, but not counting that as the flight is an anomaly.
The westbound can't be flown due to altitude on takeoff, and the eastbound rides prevailing winds the entire way, decreasing the aircraft's necessary performance.
No point in comparing that to anything.
Seems like they are changing the future delivery dates by changing B787 variants and buying time for taking proper decision, once the delivery dates near for B787-8's and B787-10's they may reduce the number of aircrafts to another type of Boeing aircrafts, so Boeing is happy and Emirates is happy. A win-win for both.
Actually I see the 788s being deployed on new services to thinner European destinations such as TLS, OPO, OTP, BEG, SOF, ZAG, SJJ etc…