Dominating this week’s top air transport stories include significant aircraft orders from the Dubai Airshow.
Two Dubai-based airlines Emirates and flydubai placed orders for a combined 125 widebody aircraft with Boeing on the opening day of the Dubai Airshow, signaling that Dubai remains committed to the growth of its hub model in spite of increasing competition in the region. The Emirates part of the order includes commitments for 55 more 777-9s and 35 777-8s. The flag carrier has priced its latest 777X order at $52 billion. Flydubai ordered 30 Boeing 787-9s as the Dubai-based carrier introduces widebodies to open new routes and grow capacity on existing routes.
In other aircraft orders from the Dubai Airshow,
Airbus and Turkish Airlines reached “an agreement in principle for a significant commercial aircraft order.” The yet-to-be-firmed-up deal is for up to 355 aircraft, 240 of which will be on firm order, according to Turkish Airlines. The flag-carrier said in a filing to the Istanbul stock exchange that “discussions with Airbus … are ongoing.” The aircraft are to be delivered between 2026 and 2036.
After four days of intense back and forth over a potentially large order for Airbus A350-1000s, Emirates Airline agreed Nov. 16 to place an order for 15 of the smaller A350-900s. The deal comes on top of an existing commitment for 50 of the A350-900, the first of which is expected to arrive in August 2024. All 65 of the A350s are to be delivered by 2028, according to Emirates.
Leisure carrier SunExpress placed an order with Boeing for up to 90 737 MAX-family aircraft which would see its fleet more than double over the next decade should it take up all of its purchase rights. The firm portion of the order totals 45 aircraft: 28 of the 737-8s and 17 of the yet-to-be-certified 737-10. The Antalya, Turkey-based airline also has five options and up to 40 purchase rights for unspecified MAXs.
Ethiopian Airlines will buy up to 67 Boeing aircraft including firm orders for 20 737-8s and 11 787-9s, with plans to more than double its fleet to 270 by 2035. The agreement, announced Nov. 14 at the Dubai Airshow, sees deliveries taking place over the 2026-30 period and also includes options for an additional 15 787s and 21 -8s.
AirBaltic firmed an order for 30 Airbus A220-300s, and purchase rights for a further 20, positioning the Latvian flag carrier to grow its fleet to 100 of the type by 2030 and expand its existing bases in the Baltics and its 127 routes it serves.
EgyptAir ordered 10 Airbus A350-900s on the second day of the Dubai Airshow to complement a lease deal with Air Lease Corp. for 18 Boeing 737 MAXs announced a day prior. Deliveries of the new MAX aircraft are also expected to begin in 2025. Deliveries of the A350 are expected to begin in 2025 and continue through 2027.
Kazakhstan-based SCAT Airlines is to nearly double its Boeing 737 MAX fleet after announcing an order for seven 737-8s.
Royal Jordanian is growing its Boeing 787 fleet and improving connectivity on its current 787s, placing an order for six more 787-9s at the Dubai Airshow. The deal reconfirms a previous order for two 787-9s and includes four additional aircraft, which will bring Royal Jordanian’s total 787-9 fleet to nine. The carrier already operates seven 787-8s.
New Saudi Arabian national airline Riyadh Air, which is planned to start operations in mid-2025, will need “a few more weeks” to decide on a large order for narrowbodies, COO Peter Bellew said on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow. Details of contractual negotiations are still to be finalized.
In engine news, CFM International joint-venture partners GE Aerospace and Safran have completed the conceptual design review for the next-generation RISE (Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines) open fan propulsion system which targets a 20% improvement in fuel efficiency compared with its current LEAP 1 turbofan.
Rolls-Royce has run the UltraFan technology demonstrator at maximum thrust at its test facility in Derby, England, marking the highest power yet achieved by a gear-driven turbofan. The engine, which first ran in April, achieved thrust of 85,000 lb. in early November, Rolls says. The power level is around 5,000 lb. higher than the target thrust level for which the demonstrator was designed.
