Emirates Orders 150 Boeing Planes for $56 Billion

Emirates the Dubai airline has completed an order for $56 billion to purchased 150 777X Boeing jets Wednesday. The order completes a commitment the airline made in 2013 just weeks after it scrapped an order with Airbus a rival of Boeing.

The order includes the purchase rights for another 50 aircraft, which if exercised, could make the contract’s value close to $75 billion, said Boeing in a prepared statement.

Tim Clark the president of Emirates said that with this order for the 150 aircraft, Emirates now has 208 777s from Boeing that are pending delivery, which helps to create and secure jobs across the industry’s supply chain.

The agreement was made days prior to the important Farnborough International Airshow, which is an event at which traditionally billions of dollars in orders for new planes are announced.

The announcement also follows a cancellation that came as a surprise last June of an order for $16 billion by Emirates to purchase 70 A350 Airbus aircraft, which hit the plane maker based in Europe hard and saw its share price fall.

Airbus ended the first six months of this year trailing its rival in the U.S. in both new orders and deliveries. However, it is expected by most that Airbus will unveil many new orders during the upcoming Farnborough show.

The orders by Emirates was part of the launch of the 777X in November of last year at the Dubai Air Show, one of the largest launches of a product in the history of commercial jetliners.

Along with Dubai-based Emirates, other Gulf airlines Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways also announced orders for the new plane that totaled more than $100 billion.

Emirates, which is the largest operator in the world of the Boeing 777, was near the finalizing of the order last week.

Qatar Airways and Emirates had negotiated jointly the deal last November at the air show in Dubai. However, it was unclear whether the airline based in Doha had finalized its 777 order.

Qatar Airways and Emirates are part of three Gulf carriers, along with Etihad from Abu Dhabi, that have purchased large fleets of jets that are wide body to support the growth in its new hubs.