The 777X dominates the scene at Dubai Airshow 2025: the bum is ready to board

The Dubai Airshow 2025 promises to be a packed edition, including new incoming aircraft, first appearances and an expanded exhibition program.

The 777X takes center stage

The salon opens with an image that weighs more than a thousand words: Boeing not only brought the 777X, but will fly it in a two-day demonstration. The prototype has already arrived in Dubai, which makes it even clearer that this is not the usual static showroom display: the Seattle-based company wants to show the aircraft in motion, in maneuver, in front of its most important customers.

For a program that accumulates more than seven years late, bringing the 777X to perform in the skies over Dubai is a direct message to the market: the project is going ahead, it is real, and Boeing has decided to put its face in the very place where credibility is measured more than anywhere else. This will be the second time four years after the first (and last) time the 777X arrived at what will be its main airport once it enters service.

A crowded airshow with major debuts

The 2025 edition is among the largest ever, with more than 1,500 exhibitors and more than 200 aircraft between static and flight. Among the most anticipated attendees is the COMAC C919, making its first appearance in the region, a symbolic debut that signals China's willingness to insert itself into the narrow-body game now dominated by Airbus and Boeing.

Emirates celebrates 40 years

The home company celebrates its 40th anniversary right during the event. For a carrier that has built much of its history on the Dubai shows, the occasion increases the spotlight on future strategy and the role Emirates may play in the next big orders.

Orders expected, but without the "shows" of the past

Estimates are for a few hundred total orders: good numbers, but far from the peaks of the most dynamic years. Demand remains strong, but bottlenecks in the supply chain continue to weigh: Airbus struggles in narrow-body, Boeing in long-range programs, and for many companies the real knot is not deciding what to buy, but when planes can be delivered.

The iconic photograph

Between Chinese debuts and Emirati recurrences, the scene that will stick out is one: the 777X flying over Dubai. For Boeing, it is a concrete demonstration at a time when the program needs positive signals. In an industry that evaluates programs based on what flies, not what is promised, showing the 777X in action is the most direct way to reaffirm its centrality to the long-haul of the future.

Il barbone will be present

Needless to say, TFC will be there, after this summer's Paris Airshow and the Hamburg Interior Show just concluded this spring, this will be the Barbone's first time at this event and we will be ready to report on what happens during this busy Emirati week.