A record passenger order — does it have an impact on cargo?

At the Dubai Airshow, Emirates signed a firm order with Boeing for fifty 777-300ERs (with options for twenty more). This is the largest order, by dollar value, Boeing has ever booked.

When all fifty units are delivered, it will give Emirates a fleet of 182 passenger 777s, mostly -300ERs, and a 777-300ER is a belly-cargo monster. As an example of its capacity, consider that Air Canada operated a 777-300ER from Vancouver to Frankfurt a year ago with a full passenger load, and still managed to carry over thirty tonnes of freight. So another way to look at EK’s fifty-unit 777-300ER pax order is to say it provides the carrier with 1,500 tonnes of additional cargo capacity — the equivalent of adding thirteen 747-400 Freighters to the fleet.

For more information about the order, and a high-res version of the picture in our photo section, click here.