Summary

• Singapore Airlines' chief executive expects its first Boeing 777-9 delivery in late 2025.
• When the airline initially ordered the type, it expected deliveries to occur in FY2021/22.
• In total, Singapore Airlines has 31 Boeing 777-9 aircraft on order.

Goh Choon Phong, Singapore Airlines' chief executive officer, says that the airline still expects to take delivery of its first Boeing 777-9, the larger variant of the 777X, in late 2025, despite some executives hinting that the type's deliveries could slip further.

2025 deliveries

According to a report by FlightGlobal, Phong made his comments during the group’s latest financial results presentation to analysts. Singapore Airlines announced a profit of $2.6 billion for FY2023/FY24, which ended on March 31, 2024.

The airline’s executive stated that Singapore Airlines should receive its first Boeing 777-9 in late 2025, a significant delay to the initial timeline of FY2021/22. The carrier initially ordered 20 aircraft of the type on top of another 19 Boeing 787-10 aircraft in February 2017.

At the time, Phong detailed that the widebody aircraft order would enable Singapore Airlines to operate a modern and fuel-efficient fleet, providing the Singapore Airlines Group with more growth opportunities to retain its industry-leading position.

Converting 787-10s to 777-9s

In February 2021, Singapore Airlines announced that it had deferred over $4 billion of capital expenditure (CapEx) that it was supposed to spend on Airbus and Boeing aircraft, with the manufacturers agreeing to deliver some aircraft later than they were contractually obliged to.

The same announcement also revealed that Singapore Airlines was swapping 14 Boeing 787-10 orders for 11 additional Boeing 777-9 aircraft to cover its widebody aircraft needs beyond FY2025/26. As a result, it significantly reduced its planned CapEx in FY2020/21, FY2021/22, FY2022/23, and FY2023/24 while upping its CapEx for FY2024/25. Furthermore, its Boeing 777-9 backlog grew to 31 aircraft.

Meanwhile, the airline’s latest annual financial report indicated that in FY2023/24, it took delivery of 16 aircraft, which included eight aircraft each that were added to Singapore Airlines and Scoot fleets, respectively. The former took delivery of two Airbus A350-900, four Boeing 787-10, and two Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft while retiring three Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (NG) jets.

In February 2021, the group estimated that its CapEx in FY2024/2025 would be $4.3 billion, which has now been reduced to $3 billion. However, in the following financial year, Singapore Airlines plans to spend as much as $4.5 billion on aircraft and other assets.

Stuck in limbo

While Boeing was initially scheduled to deliver the 777X in 2020, the Boeing 737 MAX crisis, changes to aircraft certification in the United States, and a closer eye from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have resulted in multiple delays in the program. The issues were only compounded by problems with the General Electric GE9X engine that temporarily paused Boeing's certification effort.

During the aircraft manufacturer’s Q1 2024 earnings call, Brian West, the chief financial officer (CFO) and Executive Vice President of Boeing, shared no additional updates on the certification timeline for the 777X during the call, only saying:

“Finally, on 777X, we continue to progress along the program timeline, and still expect first delivery in 2025. We'll follow the lead of the FAA as we progress through the process, including working to obtain approval from the FAA to begin certification flight testing.”

Despite the careful language, some customers, including Emirates, expressed doubt about whether Boeing will be able to deliver the first 777X in 2025. Tim Clark, the airline's president, stated that the deliveries could slip to 2026 in March.