Despite being the largest customer for the type, Emirates has confirmed that it does not plan to take delivery of the oldest Boeing 777X jets that have already been built. This, as confirmed this morning by Tim Clark, the President of the Dubai-based UAE flag carrier, at the Farnborough International Airshow 2026, is because these aircraft are already around eight years old, and thus no longer up to spec.

Emirates’ relationship with the Boeing 777X has been a frustrating one for the airline, with the carrier, like the type’s other customers, having had to come to terms with multiple delays over the years. Now, however, it seems that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel, with certification for the new widebody twinjet looming large on the horizon. All being well, Emirates should get the 777X in Q2 of 2027.

Emirates Won’t Take Boeing’s Oldest 777X Aircraft

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Emirates President Tim Clark held a media round table at the 2026 Farnborough International Airshow this morning, with much of the interest among the gathered press pack concerning the Boeing 777X. On this front, responding to a question to Jens Flottau from Aviation Week, Clark said that Emirates would not be taking deliveries of “ten or 11” of the oldest 777X jets that were initially bound for the carrier.

This, he explained, is because, being around eight years old already, “they’re going to need a complete upgrade on the mod status because, since they were produced, there’s quite a lot that has happened to the airframe and all the other bits and pieces.” For this reason, Boeing has already scrapped an Emirates-bound 777-9 rather than paying the huge rework costs. Tim Clark went on to say that:

“In the end, they have been standing on their wheels with their engines, of course, for some time. We last saw them a few years ago, parked outside Renton, all greened up, and you know, looking very sad.”

Deliveries Are Set To Commence In The Second Quarter Of Next Year

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Despite all of the uncertainty that has surrounded Emirates’ large order book for the Boeing 777X, and indeed the new widebody twinjet program as a whole, there is now a light at the end of the tunnel as far as its long-awaited certification is concerned. Indeed, while this is thought to be unlikely to occur in 2026, Reuters reported today that, per the FAA, the process should be completed by early 2027.

This will then finally give Boeing the green light to deliver its hotly anticipated aircraft. Indeed, Reuters added that, according to comments made earlier today by Tim Clark at the Farnborough International Airshow, Emirates expects deliveries to begin in the second quarter of 2027. Of course, this will still represent a considerable overall delay, with Clark adding that “we should have had the planes in April ​2020.”

With that being said, Clark himself told Simple Flying at the round table this morning that the Q2 goal was “a bit of a stretch under any circumstances,” given that Boeing is also busy certifying the narrowbody 737 MAX 7 and MAX 10 twinjets. In any case, the Emirates President added that “it’s nobody’s interest to try to delay” the 777X any further, with the jet being “the most tested aircraft in history.”

Emirates’ Overall Commitment To The Boeing 777X Remains Strong

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According to present fleet data made available by ch-aviation, Emirates currently has a grand total of 270 jets from the Boeing 777X series on order. It made its most recent addition to its order book on this front last November at the 2025 Dubai Air Show, where, as seen in the video below, it bought another 65 units of the larger 777-9 model. The airline also supports feasibility studies into a potential 777-10.

Emirates’ 270 orders for the Boeing 777X family are dominated by the larger 777-9 variant, which accounts for 235 of its commitments. The smaller 777-8, on the other hand, has proven to be less popular overall, with Emirates committing to just 35 units. Even so, its total order book of 270 777X jets represents 48.56% of the series’ entire passenger order book, with 556 non-freighter 777Xs bought to date.