Emirates’ Most Profitable Jet Is Stuck Waiting Months for Engines

Emirates president Sir Tim Clark has put a number on how badly engine repair backlogs are hurting the airline. Engine overhaul turnaround times, he said, have stretched from a contracted 85 days to more than 350 days, according to Aviation Week reporting summarized in this week’s global aviation roundup.

The practical result is that Airbus A380s are sitting idle while their engines wait in the shop. An engine out for overhaul cannot power a jet, so each month of delay is a month an aircraft that Emirates has already paid for earns nothing.

That matters more at Emirates than at most airlines. The double-deck A380 was the carrier’s most profitable aircraft type in its record 2025–26 financial year, so the aircraft stuck waiting on engines are the ones the airline would most like to be flying.

For travelers, the stakes are mostly about capacity and aircraft choice. Fewer flying A380s can mean fewer seats on trunk routes and a lower chance of ending up on the airline’s flagship cabins, though the reporting does not say which routes are affected or when the backlog is expected to ease.

Sources: eTurboNews