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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long-haul airline Emirates said Tuesday it will delay a major acquisition of Airbus A350s due to concerns about its Rolls Royce engines, dealing a major blow to the European manufacturer at the Dubai Airshow.
Emirates Chairman Tim Clark’s comments to reporters at the exhibition came a day after his airline announced a $52 billion acquisition of Airbus rival Boeing Co. , while sister carrier FlyDubai acquired another $11 billion worth of Boeing jets.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines announced the purchase of 31 Boeing aircraft, adding 20 737 MAXs, a sign of the airline’s renewed confidence in the single-aisle aircraft after suffering a fatal accident in 2019 with the plane that caused its global grounding. .
Airbus is yet to reach a major deal at the show, which comes as airlines such as Emirates have recovered from coronavirus pandemic lockdowns with increased demand for travel.
In his remarks to reporters at the Emirates chalet on the tarmac at Al Maktoum International Airport, Clark raised considerations about the requirements needed for the A350’s Rolls Royce engines.
“If the engine did what it was supposed to do. . . then it would reinstate the assessment of our fleet plan,” Clark said.
But in an interview with The Associated Press, Rolls Royce said: “The A350-900 XWB-84 is the most productive engine on the market in terms of efficiency, durability and reliability. “
“The Airbus A350 and the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB have proven time and time again that they are a winning combination. More than 56 consumers have chosen to order and/or operate this aircraft, which is an industry benchmark for power and reliability,” he said. aggregate.
Airbus did not respond to a request for comment.
Emirates is a heavyweight in the East-West relationship from Dubai International Airport, the busiest in the world for foreigners.
Clark also said Emirates will buy aircraft now as it moves forward with plans to expand its routes and networks.
“Regardless of the difficulties in getting those planes out, we have to place orders now that the lead times are very long,” Clark said.
Clark also said that tensions across the Middle East caused by the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip would not be the UAE’s business, adding that they are used to sidestepping the region’s geopolitical issues. He said that although the Israeli market is one of Emirates’ fastest-growing markets, it has had to block its daily flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, but the airline has been able to absorb the drop in demand.
Emirates and FlyDubai have introduced direct flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport after the two countries established diplomatic relations in 2020.
Two of Israel’s leading corporations, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and Israel Aerospace Industries, were scheduled to participate in the Dubai Airshow. But the IAI booth, which bore the slogan “Where Courage Meets Technology,” closed and was empty on Monday. A few other people piled up there.
Riyadh Air, a new Saudi airline that is being built on billions of dollars in planned spending in the kingdom, also has a presence in the aircraft market. In March, the airline announced an order for up to 72 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft and plans to continue its expansion.
Clark said, however, that he’s not worried about competition.
“If Saudi Arabia wants to spend $2 trillion to do glorious things there, it wants manpower somewhere. And that wants to be drafted, and their carriers are going to have a hard time at first meeting that demand,” he said. Do you think it’s a challenge with this batch? No, I don’t think so, because we have managed to build Emirates through all this competition, developing socio-economic and geopolitical difficulties.
The air show, which has billions of dollars in contracts as well as arms manufacturers, will take place two weeks before Dubai hosts the United Nations COP28 climate talks.
Aviation has drawn the ire of climate change activists, in part because of the amount of jet fuel it consumes. In January, Emirates effectively flew a Boeing 777 on a test flight with one of its two engines powered exclusively by what is known as sustainable aviation. fuel, or SAF. Earlier this month, the airline allowed SAF to operate flights, adding one to Sydney, Australia.
However, “decarbonizing civil aviation is incredibly complicated and will take time,” Clark said.
On Tuesday, the Ethiopian announced its deal with Boeing that will see it buy the 737 MAX jet, as well as 11 787 Dreamliners. It also agreed to features to potentially acquire 36 more aircraft: 21 MAX aircraft and 15 Dreamliners. Boeing described it as “the largest acquisition of Boeing aircraft ever made in the history of Africa,” without offering any publicity value for the deal.
The MAX crash in March 2019, shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, killed all 157 people on board. This was the second involvement of a Boeing MAX in less than five months and resulted in the international grounding of all MAX aircraft for only about two years.
Asked about the accident, the CEO of the Ethiopian group, Mesfin Tasew, stated that “it left a scar in our memory. “
“We have verified and demonstrated that the design defect of this aircraft has been corrected through Boeing and we have renewed our confidence in this aircraft,” he said.
Other purchases on Tuesday included:
— Emirates announced $1. 2 billion in seating deals with France’s Safran.
– Emirates has announced plans to build a $950 million facility at Al Maktoum International Airport, the city-state’s second airfield.
EgyptAir said it would buy 10 Airbus A350-900 jets. The value of the plane is not disclosed.
— Boeing and SCAT Airlines of Kazakhstan announced that the airline will purchase seven Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. He also revealed the terms of the sale.
Malak Harb and Jon Gambrell, Associated Press