Image Courtesy: Bloomberg
Boeing has suffered another setback after Emirates announced it will refuse delivery of its first 10 Boeing 777X aircraft, with the airline’s president joking that the long-delayed jets would be better off being turned into baked bean tins.
Emirates has ordered 270 Boeing 777X aircraft, each valued at about $440 million, but the first planes, originally built in 2019, have yet to enter service because of repeated delays caused by design changes and technical issues. Emirates President Sir Tim Clark said the earliest aircraft have undergone so many modifications that upgrading them to the latest standard is no longer practical.
“We’re not taking that batch and that’s it,” Clark said during the Farnborough International Airshow. Referring to Boeing’s efforts to find another use for the aircraft, he added that “Heinz would be interested, baked bean cans.”
The Boeing 777X program has faced years of setbacks since its planned entry into service slipped from 2020 to at least 2027. Among the issues were a thrust control problem that halted flight testing in 2024, an earlier incident that caused an aircraft’s nose to pitch upward without pilot input, and a structural failure during a ground-based stress test.
Clark said those problems resulted in major redesigns that left the first batch of aircraft effectively obsolete. He noted that he flew aboard one of the early test aircraft in 2019 and expressed frustration that seven years later the jets still are not ready for delivery.
The criticism comes as reports revealed that one of the early 777X aircraft originally intended for Emirates was dismantled in 2025 after spending years in storage near Boeing’s manufacturing facilities in Seattle.
Boeing acknowledged that the aircraft evolved significantly during development. Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said the company continues evaluating whether upgrading early aircraft is economically worthwhile while ensuring customers receive the best possible product.
Flight testing of the 777-9, the first variant of the 777X family, is expected to conclude later this year. If certification proceeds as planned, Boeing aims to deliver the first aircraft to Lufthansa before the end of 2027. British Airways, another major customer, has also yet to receive a firm delivery timeline.
