Emirates CEO Sir Tim Clark interview Part 2: his Boeing and Airbus woes
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
This is second part of an interview with Sir Tim Clark, CEO of Emirates. We published Part 1 on Friday, click here to read. It is his combined thoughts from a moderated public Q&A and a private follow-on media session held at the Aviation Club lunch last week.
As the CEO of one of the biggest airlines in the world, Sir Tim Clark has his finger on the pulse of a wide variety of issues and is in regular contact with Airbus, Boeing and the engine manufacturers.
With the outspoken Akbar Al Baker no longer CEO of Qatar Airways and Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary (equally outspoken!) focussed on Boeing and the 737MAX issues, Sir Tim has taken up the mantle as the leading ‘speaker of truth’ about what the main aircraft manufacturers are doing.
This is particularly true for the Boeing 777X, for which Emirates is a launch customer, and the Airbus A350-1000.

Boeing’s delays on the 777X
“Everyday is a different day at Boeing.”
That’s how Sir Tim Clark started his response when asked the (inevitable) question about Boeing’s repeated delays on the Boeing 777X. The aircraft, an update to the original 777 that popularised twin-engine long haul flying, was initially due to arrive in the Emirates’ fleet in 2020.
The development program has faced so many delays that the Emirates CEO now thinks it will come in early 2026, although late 2025 is still the official guidance given.
“We did the first deal at the Dubai Air Show in 2012. So we thought probably 10 years, nine years was okay [for the aircraft to arrive]. Here we are now, and it’s going into the end of next year. Frankly, with what’s been going on over at Boeing and with the FAA increasing its surveillance and scrutiny, I’m beginning to doubt that as well.”
Despite the delays, Sir Tim hasn’t lost faith in the aircraft and at the Dubai Air Show last year signed an order for another 90 777X aircraft. This takes the Emirates order book to a grand total of 205 – the largest customer for the type.
With the A380 – formerly the world’s largest passenger aircraft – no longer in production, the 777X program is now the largest aircraft available for commercial operations. The 777-9X, the larger of the two variants on offer can accommodate 426 passengers in a typical three class configuration.
The genius of the 777X – apart from the increased efficiency from strapping on two newer, larger engines – is the new, longer wing. Folding wing-tips (a first for passenger planes) enable the aircraft to fit the same airport gates as previously despite the expanded wingspan, which itself increases efficiency.
Unfortunately, Airbus doesn’t (at the moment) offer anything at this end of the market any more, although its A350-1000 gets close. This is bad news for airlines such as Emirates which rely on the very biggest planes to ferry passengers en-masse to and from congested airports.
Heathrow alone sees six daily A380 flights to Dubai, soon to increase to seven, and I’m sure Sir Tim would like to offer more if he could. This is before you add in the Gatwick and Stansted flights (albeit no A380 on the latter).

The A350-1000 is still on the cards
All that said, Sir Tim remains interested in the A350-1000 as part of the widebody fleet at Emirates. Whilst the airline has 65 of the smaller A350-900 on order, with the first due to arrive in the coming months, an order for the larger variant has not materialised yet.
Sir Tim has been very vocal, most recently at the Dubai Air Show in 2023, that the Rolls-Royce provided engines were not performing to a level that Emirates would require.
“I was deeply disappointed with [the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97]. We couldn’t have what we needed on that.”
This has been a well documented issue, particularly in challenging conditions such as the dusty Middle East where the turbine blades are deteriorating at a faster-than-expected pace. This requires more maintenance and reduces the so-called ‘time on wing’ – ie. the number of flights that can be performed before more serious maintenance is required.
Just last week, Rolls-Royce announced it was rolling out a package of durability improvements across its Trent family of engines which also power the A330neo and are an option for Boeing 787s. The billion-pound investment is forecast to double time on wing in harsh conditions and increase it by 50% in more benign conditions thanks to improved (and more advanced) materials in the turbines.
Sir Tim, who caught up with Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic just last week, says “they’re not there yet, not by any stretch.” Time on wing at the moment on the A350-1000 is “about 500 cycles. We need 2,500 …. I think what they’re trying to do is get to something like 2,000 cycles under our conditions.”
He also cited concerns around what Rolls-Royce charges. “It needs to be at a price per hour that is affordable for us.” Industry gossip suggests that the engine-maker has been less willing to negotiate in an attempt to regain profitability under their new CEO. Whilst the strategy appears to be working with some customers, it does mean that Rolls-Royce and Airbus have lost other orders to Boeing and GE on the 787 and 777X.
Despite his vocal criticism, an A350-1000 remains on the cards. “We like the aeroplane, we think if they can get the engine sorted out it’ll do great things for us.” There’s just a single caveat:
“But we’re not going to buy it until we know that it actually works.”

What about the aircraft of the future?
Taking a step back, Sir Tim also lamented the state of future new widebody programs. “The industry is faced with an acute shortage of what’s coming next.”
Whilst Boeing is tied up trying to unstick itself from the quagmire of 737MAX issues and delays on the 777X, Airbus is “absolutely fixated on single aisle and hydrogen.”
Whilst laudable, Sir Tim doesn’t see next-generation propulsion systems arriving in-time to decarbonise long haul aviation by 2050.
“Hydrogen is not going to do the job to the scale that you want, to the numbers that you want in the time that you want. In that time, all these three A350s and 787s or whatever it is, are going to run out of lives and what you’re going to replace them with is exactly the same.”
With new aircraft projects now taking 15 years, including ‘simple’ re-engine and re-wing projects such as the 777X, the next generation of widebodies won’t be available until 2040 at the earliest even if launched tomorrow.
“Where does that take you in terms of your ability to meet your sustainability targets beyond the 40s?”
The only solution, in his eyes, is to continue with current, jet fuel-based systems and increase the volume of sustainable aviation fuel that’s used, whilst bringing down overall fuel consumption at the same time.
“You need to start today and you need to apply all the technologies …. the propulsors, airframe systems, aerodynamics, metallurgical solutions to it, whether it be titanium, aluminium, or plastic or combination of the two.”
PS. If you are reading this but are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and deals to improve how you travel. To sign up, visit this page of the site or click any of the ‘Subscribe’ links on this page. Thank you.

How to earn Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards (February 2025)
Emirates Skywards does not have a UK credit card. However, you can earn Emirates Skywards miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.
Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:
- American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 15,000 Emirates Skywards miles. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.
- The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 37,500 Emirates Skywards miles
- American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 7,500 Emirates Skywards miles. This card is FREE for life.
Membership Rewards points convert at 4:3 into Emirates Skywards miles which is an attractive rate. The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 0.75 Emirates Skywards miles
The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, not just with Emirates but with any airline.
Comments (46)