Boeing landed a multi-billion dollar deal Monday with Emirates for the supply of 65 additional Boeing 777-9 aircraft on the opening day of the 2025 Dubai Airshow.
The agreement came as the carrier looks to increase its fleets off record earnings and seemingly unending demand for flights through this East-West travel hub. Emirates is one of the two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Etihad Airways).
Forbes reports the new order, valued at $38 billion at list prices, strengthens the Dubai-based carrier’s position as the world’s largest operator of the 777 family and demonstrates its support for Boeing’s 777X ambitious program which has faced a series of setbacks, delaying its certification. The outlet noted:
With this deal, Emirates’ total Boeing orderbook stands at 315 widebody aircraft, including 270 777X jets, 10 777 freighters, and 35 787s.
The agreement also includes 130 additional GE9X engines. Emirates’ commitment to GE Aerospace now rises to 540 GE9X engines in total, the largest order for the engine program to date.
Emirates also relies heavily on the double-decker Airbus A380 alongside the Boeing 777 and has started flying the Airbus A350.
“It’s a long-term commitment that supports hundreds of thousands of high-value factory jobs, and it reinforces our 40-year partnership with Boeing and GE,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman and chief executive of Emirates.
“Emirates is already the world’s largest operator of the 777 — all powered by the GE engines — and after today’s order, I expect to remain the biggest 777 operator for the years to come.”
The cockpit of an experimental Boeing 777X aircraft at the Dubai Air Show in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. The Airshow runs from Nov. 17-21, with expanded space and advanced air mobility pavilions this year.(Christopher Pike/Bloomberg via Getty)
Sheikh Ahmed added the carrier continued to encourage manufacturers to build larger aircraft with more capacity as air travel is only expected to grow.
However, he smiled and looked at Boeing when putting forward his hoped-for timeline for putting the 777-9 in service for Emirates, AP reports.
“We look forward to receiving delivery of our first 777-9s starting from the second quarter of 2027,” he said.
Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, offered no timeline for the plane’s entry to service in her brief remarks.
“The 777-9 will further support Emirates mission to connect people and places around the globe like never before,” she said.
Emirates was founded on March 25, 1985. Today it is the world’s largest long haul airline as well as the largest airline in the Middle East, operating more than 3,600 flights per week from its hub at Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport.
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