Boeing equipped to meet historic Gulf orders

June 18, 2025, 8:04 AM

Boeing's ability to ramp up production and meet certification deadlines will be key to fulfilling tens of billions in new orders from Gulf carriers over the next 15 years

Delivery timelines extend years
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Gulf airlines can rest relatively easy about the fate of tens of billions of dollars worth of new Boeing jets they ordered during US President Donald Trump’s trip to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last month.

At least that’s the case as long as the American aircraft manufacturer continues to address the production and safety challenges that have plagued it in the past several years, and meets interim certification and quota deadlines, analysts have told AGBI.

“The question is not can they build all these planes tomorrow? The question is can they build them over the next 15 years?” said Nicolas Owens, a Chicago-based equity analyst at Morningstar. “And the answer is yes.”

The verdict will be good news to Boeing and Gulf airline executives at the Paris Airshow this week, where aircraft delays and orders were overshadowed by the Iran-Israel conflict and escalating geopolitical tensions in the region.

When Trump stopped in Doha last month, Qatar Airways used the opportunity to announce plans to buy 210 wide-body jets from Boeing equipped with GE Engines, worth $96 billion, marking the largest order of this kind for the US manufacturer.

The order encompasses 130 787-8 Dreamliners, 30 of Boeing’s new 777X and an option to add another 50 aircraft from these two lines.

In Abu Dhabi, Etihad announced it would purchase $14.5 billion worth of 28 Boeing 787 and 777Xs. And in Riyadh, AviLease, an aircraft leasing firm of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, placed an order for up to 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets.

These purchases are stacked over pre-existing ones with earlier delivery dates.

Neither the airlines nor Boeing have given details about when the new planes are expected, but commitments of this magnitude typically provide a significant runway, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of Michigan-based AeroDynamic Advisory.

“You don’t order airplanes because you want them right away, you want them in five years or more and you hope they arrive more or less in time,” he said.

Boeing has struggled with significant delays since the pandemic, including on projects as high-profile as the new Air Force One, but is turning things around under new chief executive Kelly Ortberg, who assumed the role just shy of a year ago.

“Boeing has had issues getting production up to where they want it to be, but it seems to be making lots of progress,” Aboulafia said.

According to Aboulafia, Gulf stakeholders should nevertheless watch out for long-running constraints in the larger aviation supply chain, which are likely to last “through to the end of the decade” and affect manufacturing processes.

Owens of Morningstar recommends monitoring the new 777X’s ongoing certification process, which Boeing expects the US Federal Aviation Administration may clear by the new year following extensive testing.

“Over time, the number that people look at is how many of the aircraft they are producing a month,” he said, as well as whether the first airline customers to take delivery are “happy with the product.”

Emirates Airlines’ CEO Tim Clark said earlier this month he expects to receive the initial 777X aircraft between the middle of next year and early 2027.

Early indications of the crash last week of the first ever Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in India may have been caused by maintenance failures or pilot error and not manufacturing issues, which may limit its impact on the company’s reputation and bottom line.

“If it does turn out to be something wrong with the 787, that would be very bad for Boeing,” Owens said. “But I don’t think that is likely.”