Emirates fleet rethink could mean Boeing pain and Airbus gain

As the man commanding the world’s largest international airline for almost two decades, Emirates President Tim Clark has perfected the act of playing arch-rivals Airbus and Boeing off one another. His tactics were on display again this weekend in Dubai, where the biennial air show is taking place on Emirates’s home turf. Clark, speaking in an interview, said he’s conducting a fleet “reset.” That, in turn, might amount to a shift away from Boeing, which the executive singled out as still having issues to resolve around the 777X wide-body, for which Emirates is the biggest buyer. Clark might lack the take-no-prisoners bravado of Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker, who revels in the public shaming of Airbus and Boeing if he can raise the heat to get a better deal. But Emirates arguably has more clout than its regional rival because of its sheer size, having ordered 115 777X alone and running by far the largest fleet of Airbus A380 double deckers. And Clark is no stranger to making painful decisions at the expense of one airframe maker. In 2014, he axed a deal to buy 70 Airbus A350s, which constituted the single biggest order loss for the European planemaker at the time. He did eventually come back to buy 50 units, but the move left executives at Airbus in Toulouse under no illusion just how important it is to keep Clark on their side.Clark’s comments come at a delicate moment for Boeing. The US planemaker is grappling with years of delays on the 777X, and Emirates could seek to accelerate handovers of the Airbus A350, Clark said Sunday. He indicated that the number of jets required and the split between the manufacturers is also under review. “You can never say never,” he said. “There are issues still out there which Boeing has got to resolve. We also have aircraft from Airbus coming in. So we’ll have a look at all that and see how it best fits the network. In terms of mix and the absolute number that could all change.”<br/>