Emirates fleet — BrandWiki

Emirates is one of the two flag carrier airlines of the United Arab Emirates, the other being Etihad Airways, and is currently the largest airline in the Middle East. The airline's fleet is composed of three wide-bodied aircraft families, the Airbus A350, Airbus A380 and Boeing 777, the latter two of which Emirates is the largest operator of. The airline also has Boeing 777X and Boeing 787 aircraft on order.

Current fleet

As of March 2026, Emirates operates an all-wide-body fleet composed of the following aircraft:

Executive fleet

The Emirates executive fleet consists of the following aircraft:[12]

Historical fleet

Emirates was conceived in March 1985 with backing from Dubai's royal family, whose Dubai Air Wing provided two of the airline's first aircraft, used Boeing 727-200 Advanced aircraft. It also leased a new Boeing 737-300 as well as an Airbus A300B4-200, both from Pakistan International Airlines.[13][14] Emirates then launched a daily nonstop service to London Gatwick on 6 July 1987 with two new Airbus A310-300s. By 1994, the airline had a fleet of 18 Airbus aircraft. Seven new Boeing 777s worth over US$1 billion were ordered in 1992, which began to arrive in summer 1996.

Emirates' Airbus A300B4-200 fleet was retired from service by the end of 1987. Emirates' Airbus A300-600Rs were retired in 2002 and replaced by Airbus A330-200s. The Boeing 727-200 Advanced aircraft remained in service with the airline for 9 years, and were sold in 1995. The Boeing 737-300 remained in service for 2 years from 1985 to 1987. The last passenger Airbus A310-300 was retired after operating its final flight on 29 July 2007 from Alexandria, Egypt to Dubai, UAE, and was sold to Qatar Amiri Flight in 2008. Emirates SkyCargo Airbus A310-300Fs were retired in 2009. The planned phaseout of Emirates' older large Airbus wide-bodies started in February 2011, starting with the retirement of two Airbus A330-200s from its fleet.

Fleet development

Order history

The airline made history at the Paris Air Show in June 2003 when it announced the biggest order ever in civil aviation at that time. The order comprised 71 aircraft list-priced at a combined US$19 billion and included firm purchase orders for 21 Airbus A380-800s and leasing orders for 2 A380-800s and 26 Boeing 777-300ERs.[22] On 16 June 2003, Emirates ordered 41 Airbus aircraft, comprising 2 A340-500s, 18 A340-600s and 21 A380-800s.[23]

On 20 November 2005, Emirates announced firm orders for 42 Boeing 777 aircraft, in a deal worth Dhs 35.7 billion (US$9.7 billion) at list prices. This was the largest-ever order for the Boeing 777 family of aircraft and consisted of 24 Boeing 777-300ERs, 10 Boeing 777-200LRs and 8 Boeing 777F cargo aircraft, with the first aircraft scheduled for delivery in 2007. In addition, Emirates took purchase rights for 20 more 777 aircraft.[24]

The airline converted an order for 2 A380Fs into the passenger version.

External links

References

Fast Facts - 1 April 2026 Emirates, 2026-04-01, retrieved 2026-04-01^
Emirates orders 8 more A350s Emirates orders 8 more A350s, retrieved 2025-11-19^
Emirates A350 Factsheet

Airbus A380

On 28 July 2008, Emirates received its first Airbus A380-800, registered A6-EDA,[40] and in August 2008, it became the second airline to fly the A380-800 after Singapore Airlines.[41] The airline uses its A380-800s for service to over 40 destinations.

Emirates' 100th A380 was delivered in October 2017.[42][43] Furthermore, the airline had 42 more A380s on order, which would have increased the number of A380s in service to 142. It considered buying an additional 100 to 200 Airbus A380s if the four-engined superjumbo had been revamped with more fuel-efficient engines by 2020.[44][45][46]

Emirates' A380s were originally all powered by Engine Alliance GP7200 engines.[38][47] In a deal worth US$9.2 billion, Rolls-Royce announced in April 2015 that it would supply engines for 50 new Airbus A380s (termed A380CEO), with the first delivery due in mid 2016. On 29 December 2016, the first Emirates Rolls-Royce-powered A380 landed at Dubai Airport.

On 18 January 2018, Emirates signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire additional Airbus A380 aircraft. The commitment was for 20 A380s, with an option for 16 more; deliveries were to start in 2020. The aircraft were valued at US$16 billion.[48][49]

In February 2019, following a review of its operations, Emirates cancelled most of the A380s it had on order, bringing to 14 the number of Airbus A380s remaining to be delivered to the airline. The first A380 delivered to the airline was one of twelve aircraft delivered on 12-year leases, resulting in the A380 fleet being retired from service from July 2020 onwards, with the last scheduled to be delivered the following year.[50][51]

As of September 2019, Emirates initiated its A380 retirement plan – which will see the type remain in service until at least 2035 – by retiring two aircraft that were due for a major overhaul, and using them as parts donors for the rest of the fleet. As further aircraft are retired, Emirates-owned airframes will continue to be used for parts, while leased airframes will be returned to their lessors.[52]

On 23 February 2020, Emirates retired its first Airbus A380, registered A6-EDB, after nearly 12 years of service.[53]

Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Airbus A350 XWB and Airbus A330neo

Emirates Chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said that the carrier would decide between the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350 XWB as to which type to order by the end of 2017.[61] At the start of the November 2017 Dubai Air Show, Emirates announced a commitment for 40 Boeing 787-10s worth a total of US$15.1 billion at list prices.[62] As Boeing had 171 orders for the variant, these would be delivered from 2018 in two- and three-class cabins for 240 to 300 passengers with conversion rights to the smaller 787-9.[63] However, by early 2019, it was considering cancelling this order in favour of the A350, because engine performance margins were insufficient for the prevailing hot weather conditions in Dubai.[64]

In February 2019, almost 5 years after cancelling orders for 70 Airbus A350s in favour of ordering more A380s, Emirates decided to order Airbus' newest generation wide-body aircraft, namely the Airbus A330neo and Airbus A350-900, and reduce its orders for the Airbus A380. The memorandum of understanding was for 40 A330-900 and 30 A350-900 aircraft worth US$21.4 billion at list prices.[65][66][67] The order for 40 Boeing 787s announced in 2017 had not been formalised by the time of the order for the A330neos and A350s,[68] and although Emirates' 2018-2019 results dropped all mention of the 787, the airline subsequently confirmed that discussions regarding the 787 were ongoing.

On 26 November 2019, Emirates, the host carrier of the 2019 Dubai Air Show, made two order announcements for both the Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787. A firm order for 50 A350-900s was announced replacing the earlier memorandum of understanding for 40 A330-900s and 30 A350-900s. The deal was worth US$16 billion at list prices with deliveries set to start in 2023.[69][70] Emirates also announced a firm order for 30 Boeing 787-9s for US$8.8 billion at list prices with deliveries expected to start in 2023. With this deal, however, Emirates reduced its Boeing 777X order to 126 aircraft from the previous deal of 150 aircraft.[71][72][73] In the aftermath of this announcement, some have claimed that the A330neo order had been cancelled, however, Emirates had confirmed that is not the case.

At the 2023 Dubai Airshow, Emirates placed an order for an additional 15 A350-900s, bringing the total on order to 65 aircraft, and converted its order for 30 787-9s to 20 787-8 and 15 787-10 aircraft.[56][57][74]

On 25 November 2024, Emirates took its first Airbus A350 following a series of delays. This marks the first time a new aircraft type has entered the fleet since 2008.[75][76]

At the 2025 Dubai Airshow, Emirates placed a top-up order for an additional eight Airbus A350-900s, bringing the total on order to 60 aircraft with 13 aircraft already delivered.[2]