Emirates boosts A350 order with new $3.4 billion deal at Dubai Airshow

Emirates orders eight more A350-900s, expanding its future fleet

Last updated:
Nivetha Dayanand, Assistant Business Editor
The Emirates A350 will be flying to additional destinations starting this summer.
The Emirates A350 will be flying to additional destinations starting this summer.
Supplied

Dubai: Emirates has placed an order for eight additional Airbus A350-900 aircraft valued at $3.4 billion at list prices, strengthening the airline’s long-term fleet strategy as global travel demand continues to expand. The agreement, announced at the Dubai Airshow 2025, increases the airline’s total A350-900 commitment to 73 aircraft, with 13 already in service.

The top-up order comes as Emirates continues introducing the A350 to new routes after its entry into service last November. The aircraft is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB84 engines and is expected to play a major role in the airline’s capacity and product expansion over the coming decade. The new units will be delivered in 2031.


“The Emirates A350’s entry into service last November has given us welcome additional capacity,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group. “It has also enabled us to introduce Emirates’ latest inflight products to more customers, including our popular Premium Economy seats. We look forward working closely with Airbus on the delivery of our remaining aircraft including the new units that we have ordered today.”

He added that the airline’s recent order momentum reflects a long-term investment in modern wide-body aircraft. “Together with the additional Boeing 777-9 order announced earlier this week, Emirates now has a total of 375 units of the latest wide-body aircraft on its orderbook. This is a massive investment in our future, the future of flying better for our customers, as well as the future of aviation in terms of job and value creation.”

Airbus said the renewed order underscores the strength of its partnership with Emirates. Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, EVP Sales of the Commercial Aircraft business, said the A350 remains central to long-haul fleet modernisation. “We are pleased to see our long-standing partner Emirates renewing its commitment to the Airbus A350, which continues to set the benchmark for long-haul travel. We look forward to supporting Emirates as it expands its operations with one of the world's most modern widebody aircraft in the market.”

Rolls-Royce, which exclusively powers the A350-900, said the airline’s confidence in the Trent XWB-84 has strengthened the relationship. “Today’s announcement is testament to the confidence in the Trent XWB-84, exclusively powering the Airbus A350-900,” said Omar Ali Adib, Senior Vice President, Customer – Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. He noted its “outstanding durability and low fuel consumption,” adding that Rolls-Royce is “proud to continue our long-standing relationship.”

A growing orderbook supporting global supply chains

Emirates’ expanding A350 orderbook supports tens of thousands of skilled roles across European manufacturing networks, with supply chain activity extending beyond the major Airbus hubs in France, Germany, the UK and Spain.

With this latest order, Emirates’ total commitment to new aircraft at the Dubai Airshow 2025 now stands at US$41.4 billion, following the earlier purchase of 65 additional Boeing 777-9s. The airline’s current fleet stands at 269 aircraft, with 375 future deliveries scheduled across Airbus and Boeing programmes.

Nivetha Dayanand
Nivetha DayanandAssistant Business Editor
Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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