American aviation giant Boeing eyes the Dubai Airshow 2025 to lay out the path to certification of its much-delayed 777x mini-jumbo programme. In October 2025, the company announced a new delay and took a USD 4.9 billion charge for its largest twin-engined plane, pushing deliveries to 2027, seven years later than originally planned.
“We always want to fight, compete and win, but it’s not about orders for me in the next two to three days. It’s about engaging… and being transparent with our customers, highlighting the progress… and then any issues or concerns that they have,” said Boeing Commercial Aeroplanes CEO Stephanie Pope.
The aviation giant has received the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) clearance to begin the third phase of Type Inspection Authorisation (TIA) certification testing on 777-9, and as per Stephanie Pope, the airframer will now start “doing that certification for score.”
Boeing has already “flown significant elements of that flight test on our own” as a derisking exercise. TIA3 focuses on the aircraft’s avionics and systems. Acknowledging that the company is “very, very disappointed with the recent reset,” Stephanie Pope maintained that its customers, including the Gulf’s big three carriers, “still believe in the aeroplane – they want the aeroplane.”
“Our goal is to be transparent with our customers and walk them through every detail of where we are in the cert – we have been doing that and we will continue to do that,” the official added.
The business is also working to reset its relations with staff, customers and suppliers after a more than five-year corporate crisis that disrupted production and sent it deeply into debt.
Analysts see Boeing turning the corner under CEO Kelly Ortberg, but say it still has some way to go before resuming normal activity. Stephanie Pope said while jetliner demand remains strong, Boeing was working hard to be more transparent, not only with airlines but also with its thousands of suppliers.
Meanwhile, Emirates Airline President Tim Clark has expressed confidence in the business case for Boeing to develop a larger model of its 777X.
“I still believe the 777X is good to go…It will be right in the end,” he said in the lead-up to the Dubai Airshow.
While the airline will be purchasing 65 more of the wide-body aircraft, it is still betting big on the jetliner despite developmental delays, while ignoring Airbus’ A350-1000. It is worth noting that in the 2023 chapter of the event, the carrier raised concerns over the maintenance performance of Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB-97 engine and opted instead for the smaller, more widely used A350-900.