The Boeing 777-9 is the latest aircraft produced by the Seattle manufacturer. It is the first commercial airliner to feature innovative folding wingtips to increase efficiency, while still fitting into existing gates at airports.
First flight is scheduled to take place in early 2020, with deliveries expected to start at the end the year to launch customer Lufthansa. This could also be delayed depending on flight testing, so realistically passenger service will likely start in 2021.
Folding Wingtips
There is a little video below which shows the folding wingtips in action. The wing will look quite normal in flight and then will fold to a vertical position on the ground.
What will be fun to see is what airlines paint on them. Some will certainly leave them blank, while others will do what Emirates have chosen to do.
Taking inspiration from the winglets of today, Emirates have the company logo on the outside of the fold. This means people can see it on the ground.
Even more impressively, the logo is on the other side as well. Passengers taking photographs out of the windows where the wing is in view will show the branding quite well.
Overall Thoughts
While we will not be flying on the Boeing 777-9 or its sister the Boeing 777-8 for a little while yet, it is good to see what is coming down the line.
At the time of writing, the aircraft has been ordered by Lufthansa, Etihad, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, ANA, Singapore Airlines and British Airways in addition to Emirates. The chances you will fly on board one on a long haul flight in the future are high.
What do you think of the folding wingtips of the new Boeing 777s? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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All images by Emirates via Flight Global.
I think I will let you guinea pigs fly the new 777X when it comes out for a few years before I get on one. Boeing doesn’t have the best record for the last decade with new planes. The latest 2 planes have been involuntarily grounded. First the Boeing 787 with the exploding batteries (which they did not resolve but just put them in a fireproof box-so much for redundancy) – the 787 engines are also failing too soon. Next was the 737 Max with it suicidal-homicidal auto pilot. The original 777 was the last good and probably safe jet… Read more »
Yes, you’re right that both the Boeing 787 an Boeing 737 MAX have been grounded due to issues. I daresay that as a result the new Boeing 777 will be as safe as can be. Considering it is using generally proven technology, there is no reason to suspect it won’t be safe. I won’t have any problem flying on board one, that’s for sure! Though I am sure others will be in the same camp as you. Thanks for the comment!