Lufthansa announced as Boeing 777-9 launch customer

Lufthansa has been confirmed as the launch operator for Boeing’s upcoming 777-9, the US manufacturer has disclosed in its recent earnings call, with the first delivery due in 2027.

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Ending some speculation as to whether Lufthansa or Emirates would be the inaugural operator of the upcoming 777-9, Boeing has confirmed that the former will be the launch customer for the as-yet-uncertified aircraft; also highlighting its confidence that potential issues with upper-class seating will also be sorted for the airframe’s targeted 2026 certification.

Boeing CFO and executive vice president of finance Brian West explained that with flight testing having recently resumed, Boeing “still [expects] first delivery in 2026, and [will] continue to follow the lead of the FAA” through certification. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg added that the company had no further update to the 777X certification timeline, Boeing also has “time to work [through] the seat certification issues,” having “learned from our 787 what those issues are”.

Lufthansa and Boeing “have had seat and continue to have seat challenges,” elaborated Ortberg, referencing the ‘Allegris’ business and first class seats onboard the 787 Dreamliner that have still not received FAA certification. Although Ortberg acknowledged that “777X interior, in general, is a more complex interior, that’s baked into [Boeing’s] overall certification programme for the aircraft” – with Boeing confident it will “be able to manage [seat certification issues] for the original deliveries”.

With the 777X back in flight testing as of this month, “we have a good handle on fixing the thrust link issue we uncovered”, added Ortberg. With thrust link failures identified in mid-August during flight testing, stalling an already substantially delayed certification programme, Boeing’s test fleet of four had remained grounded since September 2024.

Lufthansa has 20 firm orders for the 777-9 in its order books, although speaking in May 2024, CEO Jens Ritter revealed that earlier 2025 delivery expectations had slipped – indicating at the time that summer 2026 represented a more realistic timeframe.

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