Emirates mulls new aircraft, to see A380 delays

The Arab world’s largest airline, which has $55 billion of orders with the two manufacturers, will see delays in delivery of A380 superjumbos ordered for mid-2010, hitting its route expansion plan, its president also said on Wednesday.

“We are looking at it (buying more planes) ... we are making the assessments, but clearly with the growth we have and the profit we made, there is nothing to suggest after the recession we shouldn’t move rapidly,” Tim Clark told Reuters by telephone.

Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum told reporters the airline was considering taking over orders made by rivals who now wanted to delay taking delivery of new aircraft.

Clark said Emirates still had a letter of intent (LoI) with Airbus for 30 A330-300s and 30 A350XWBs, but would not make any announcements at the upcoming Dubai Airshow.

“That LoI is still alive and not withdrawn,” Clark said. “They would be pleased and equally Boeing would like us to consider more 777s.”

Clark said the airline’s plans would be hit next year by a delivery delay in Airbus’s A380. Emirates is the largest customer for the superjumbo, with 58 aircraft on order.

“We should have had 15 by June 2010 ... we are getting two in December and then the remaining 8 between January and November next year, so one or two are being pushed back.”

Clark said he hoped Airbus’s A380 assembly schedule would be back on track by 2011. “It’s affecting what we could have done, but physically they can’t get it out,” he said.

Revenue on the rise

Emirates expects to see better revenues in the second half of the year, Sheikh Ahmed said, adding: “Emirates is seeing much better numbers in terms of forward bookings”.

First-half revenues fell 13.5 percent but the Dubai-owned carrier bucked the downward trend in aviation with earnings surging 165 percent driven by lower costs.

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