Emirates’ order book: US$52bn of 777Xs, and AED 30bn a year in revenue lost to delays

Emirates has ordered more wide-body aircraft than any other airline, but it is still waiting for the Boeing 777X it ordered for delivery years ago.

90 Boeing 777X, Nov 2023$52bn

50 Airbus A350-900, Nov 2019$16bn

Boeing 787 Dreamliners, 2017$15.1bn

Cabin refit of 220 aircraft, Mar 2025$5bn

Source: Wikipedia's Emirates article for the orders; trade coverage for the refit programme.

What the delay costs

In February 2026 Emirates president Tim Clark told AGBI that late deliveries and capacity limits had cost the airline as much as AED 30 billion a year in passenger revenue and up to AED 8 billion on freight. On the original programme, he said, Emirates would by now have taken about 120 Boeing 777-9s. An undated Aviation Week report had him cautiously optimistic about a first delivery in the second half of 2026 or early 2027.

While it waits, Emirates is refitting existing aircraft. The programme grew from 205 to 220 aircraft and is worth about US$5 billion, according to trade coverage of the March 2025 announcement.