By Tim Hepher
DUBAI (Reuters) -Boeing plans to lay out the path to certification of its much-delayed 777x mini-jumbo programme in contacts with airlines at this week’s Dubai Airshow rather than use the event to maximise new order announcements, a high-level executive said on Sunday.
Boeing last month announced a new delay and took a $4.9 billion charge for its largest twin-engined plane, pushing deliveries to 2027, seven years later than originally planned.
“We always want to fight, compete and win but it’s not about orders for me in the next two to three days,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope said ahead of the November 17-21 show.
“It’s about engaging … and being transparent with our customers, highlighting the progress …and then any issues or concerns that they have,” Pope added.
Pope was speaking after the head of host carrier Emirates, which is the largest customer for the jet, told Aviation Week he had been “miffed” to learn about the delay from the media.
Asked about the comments at a pre-show briefing, Pope avoided commenting directly on discussions with Emirates but said it was “unacceptable to me for any of our customers to be surprised, and our focus is to be as transparent as possible”.
Pope confirmed an Air Current report that Boeing had won regulatory approval to proceed to the next and most important phase of certification trials for the 777X.
Jetliner demand remains strong, she told reporters.
Boeing leads this year’s order race against Airbus after a surge of orders timed to coincide with a visit to the Gulf by U.S. President Donald Trump in May, prompting analysts to predict a quieter than usual Dubai Airshow.
It is expected to announce an order from flydubai at the event, although Airbus is expected to win part of the business from the previously all-Boeing airline following back-and-forth negotiations leading up to the show, industry sources have said.
The carrier’s CEO told Reuters last year that its next order would be a record one after it bought 175 Boeing planes in 2017.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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