Emirates has now confirmed rumours that its first Airbus A350-900 delivery has been delayed even further. The news comes as aircraft manufacturer Airbus adjusts its year-end aircraft delivery goals, citing global supply chain issues.
Keen aviation nerds would note that the first Emirates A350-900, to be registered A6-EXA and currently wearing test registration F-WZGA, was spotted fully painted in the carrier’s livery as far back as May 2024. The jet was noticeably missing its two Rolls Royce Trent XWB jet engines, a similar model that holds up Emirates’ A350-1000 order. Although, it is much more likely that certification and delivery of the brand-new cabins is holding up the -900’s.
Emirates First Airbus A350-900 MSN684 #A6EXA #Emirates #Airbus #A350 #avgeek #emiratesA350 pic.twitter.com/V8B4Fm7VVG
— Eurospot (@cliper31) May 7, 2024
Emirates has a total of 65 Airbus A350-900’s on order. Initially slated to join the fleet in 2023, the delivery of these A350s has faced several delays which have been out of Emirates’ hands. First scheduled to take flight from September 2024, then November 2024, and now into December 2024.
As a result of the delay, Emirates has made aircraft swaps on its services between Dubai and Edinburgh, Bahrain, Kuwait, Muscat, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lyon, and Bologna. There are no changes to flight frequencies for these destinations, only a change in the type of aircraft operating the route. Although, some customers expecting the sparkling new cabin might find themselves downgraded from Premium Economy, or sitting in Emirates’ dreaded 2-2-2 Business Class.
The first Emirates A350-900 is now set to enter service on 16th December 2024, with flying to begin on the returned Dubai-Edinburgh service, that’s an extra 2 weeks from the initial inaugural flight on December 2nd.
Emirates tells Flight Hacks that they are looking forward to operating the A350 “as soon as possible,” with the additional delay “due to aircraft delivery delays,” which could be anything from missing engines to waiting on a lid for the toilet.
“Emirates’ plan to restart daily operations to Edinburgh on 4 November remains unchanged. However, due to A350 aircraft delivery delays, the airline will initially operate the route utilising its wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft.”
“Subsequently, we are also reviewing the start dates of our other A350 destinations and will communicate any further updates in due course.”
Here’s the breakdown of the revised Emirates A350 launch schedule, departing Dubai;
- Edinburgh from 2 December 2024 (prv. 4 November 2024)
- Bahrain from 1 January 2025 (prv. 15 September 2024)
- Kuwait from 1 January 2025 (prv. 16 September 2024)
- Ahmedabad from 1 January 2025 (prv. 27 October 2024)
- Mumbai from 1 January 2025 (prv. 27 October 2024)
- Bologna from 1 January 2025 (prv. 1 December 2024)
- Colombo from 2 January 2025 (prv. 1 January 2025)
- Lyon from 1 March 2025 (prv. 1 December 2025)
- Muscat from 1 March 2025 (prv. 1 December 2025)
*Bracketed dates indicate the original launch date
