Big order pending. Emirates to decide between 787-10 and A350 by November. Engine thrust (1/2)

Boeing's largest Dreamliner, the 787-10, is pitted against the Airbus A350-900 in competition for a big order of around 50 aircraft from Emirates.

Emirates CEO Tim Clark is evaluating the 323-seat Dreamliner that’s due to debut in 2018 against the already-in-service, 325-seat Airbus A350-900 for Emirates’ medium long-haul flights of 8 to 10 hours.

Boeing is hoping to win a big order for its largest Dreamliner, the 787-10, as soon as November from giant Gulf carrier Emirates. But there’s a problem.

British-born Emirates CEO Tim Clark, speaking to a small gathering of journalists at the Paris Air Show, said the 787-10 is a “spectacular aeroplane” but that “yes, there are issues.”

Clark said the problem for Emirates is that the Dreamliner engines lack the ideal thrust range the carrier is looking for. He said that when temperatures at the Dubai airport soar past 43ºC (110ºF), as they have in the past week, it creates adverse operating conditions that demand higher power.

“That makes life difficult” for the 787-10, whose engines generate about 76.000 pounds of thrust. Clark said his team estimates that up to 84.000 pounds would be needed to assure take-off with full loads all year round.

“On the A350-900, we don’t get those kind of operating conditions restrictions,” he added.

Clark readily concedes that few other airlines, if any, have such a requirement and that neither Boeing nor the 787-10 engine-makers are going to essentially develop a new engine just for Emirates. “They’ll probably say, Look, that’s it,” he said, calling that a “perfectly reasonable stand.”

The A350-900 is a heavier airplane, he said, designed to fly nearly 1.000 miles further than the 787-10, which has a range of about 8.000 miles that’s enough to do the required missions.

Based on the article “Big order pending, Emirates has issues with Boeing’s 787-10” published in The Seattle Times