Middle Eastern carrier Emirates has expanded its aircraft refurbishment programme to another 28 Boeing 777-300ERs, as a result of fleet-renewal delays.
The airline has 170 Boeing 777-9s on order plus 35 777-8s.
“Our first 777-9 isn’t expected until 2027 and we remain in contact with Boeing on our order backlog,” says Emirates in a full-year financial briefing.
The carrier also has orders for 15 787-10s and 20 787-8s.
Emirates’ extension of the refurbishment effort means 219 aircraft are covered.
It had originally intended to refit 120 of its jets, comprising 67 Airbus A380s and 53 777s.
Emirates subsequently broadened the programme to a further 43 A380s and 28 777s in May last year, taking the total to 191 aircraft.
But the carrier says that, “faced with continuing delays in new deliveries”, it is adding a further 28 777s to the scheme.
This means it has increased the original retrofit target by almost 100 aircraft.
Emirates says the 219 jets earmarked for the programme represent a “robust investment” of more than $5 billion. It has completed work on 29 A380s and 20 777s.
“Our retrofit programme will let us offer our latest products and a more consistent experience to our customers – whether they fly on our A380s, 777s or A350s,” says the carrier.
The airline put its first A350-900 into service in January – the first of 65 on order – and had four in the fleet by the end of March.
It has deployed the type on routes to Edinburgh, Ahmedabad, Bahrain, Colombo, Kuwait and Mumbai.
Emirates is expecting to receive 16 more Airbus A350s, plus four Boeing 777 freighters over the course of the current fiscal year.
Along with the A350s, the carrier’s overall fleet of 260 aircraft comprises 116 A380s, 120 777-300ERs and 10 777-200LRs, plus 10 777 freighters for its SkyCargo division.
SkyCargo added two 777Fs to its fleet over 2024-25, as well as a pair of wet-leased Boeing 747 freighters.
Emirates has 13 more 777Fs on order and expects to operate a fleet of 21 freighters by December 2026.
