Emirates would buy 100 Boeing 777s if they're good

Emirates would buy 100 Boeing 777s if they’re good

However, Boeing appears to be at least a year away from offering a new version of the 777.

November 8, 2012 11:22 by Reuters

Emirates airline would order 100 or more Boeing 777 wide-body jets if the manufacturer upgraded the design of the aircraft, the Dubai-based carrier’s president said in a report.

“If Boeing produced the airplane that we want I can see easily that figure, bearing in mind that we’ve ordered 175 of them,” Tim Clark said in an interview with Arabian Business magazine and published on its website.

“If it’s as good as we hope it’ll be, it’s a natural thing to say ‘yes we would probably roll over what we have to what they’re offering with the new aircraft’.”

Emirates officials were not immediately available for comment.

Carriers such as Dubai’s Emirates Airline and British Airways had planned on the new mini-jumbo, provisionally called the 777X, entering service by the end of the current decade.

However, Boeing appears to be at least a year away from offering a new version of the 777.

Emirates, Boeing’s biggest customers, has been pressing for the 777X to come sooner rather than later. The 777 is one of the most successful jets of all time and airlines are eager for an amped-up version that can go farther on less fuel with more passengers.