Top Boeing exec says 2023 will be the ‘year of wide-body orders’ with more deals to come

Stan Deal, CEO of commercial airplanes at Boeing, says 2023 has been a year of orders for wide-body aircraft with the U.S. manufacturer expecting to announce more deals at this week’s Dubai Airshow.

“We’ve seen strong recovery in the narrow-body ordering in 2022 and now in 2023 it seems to be the year of wide-body orders, and I suspect as you see this show unfold, you’re going to see many more wide-body orders for the industry,” Deal, who is also the executive vice president of Boeing, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy.

Later Monday, Boeing and Emirates agreed on a major order of 777 jets, adding to the Emirati flag carrier’s existing order backlog of 155 777X aircraft from Boeing.

Earlier this year, Saudi flag carrier Saudia and the newly established Riyadh Air each logged orders for 39 of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner jets, and Deal believes demand from the Gulf will continue to grow rapidly.

The Dubai Airshow kicked off Monday, and Deal confirmed that active discussions are underway with a number of Gulf carriers.

“This is a very unique region in the geography that it represents. Within an eight-hour flight, you are able to get to 80% of the world’s population, and we forecast over the next 20 years about 3,000 aircraft will be needed in this region,” Deal said.

“This region tends to skew towards wide-body order demand — that’s been the hallmark characteristic because they are connected worlds — so in orders you’ve seen last year from Saudia and Riyadh Air ordering 787s, that was kind of the start point of what appears to be an order period for us now.”