UAE: Emirates Airlines may order up to 15 more A380 superjumbos says airline president Tim Clark

Record ID: 588871

  • Title: UAE: Emirates Airlines may order up to 15 more A380 superjumbos says airline president Tim Clark
  • Date: 27th April 2007
  • Summary: (MER2) DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (APRIL 26, 2007) (REUTERS) WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) EMIRATES AIRLINES CHAIRMAN AHMED BIN SAEED AL-MAKTOUM, SAYING: ''We have faith in Airbus. I think we work out through a plan with them for the delivery of the A380 in August next year so we are not far away."
  • Embargoed: 12th May 2007 13:00
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  • Topics: Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVA951AG08IE9FD07U1761CV8M32
  • Story Text: Dubai-based Emirates, the largest customer for Airbus's A380 superjumbo, said it may order up to 15 more of the planes to meet surging passenger demand through its Gulf Arab hub from Europe and Asia. The government-owned carrier, which already has 43 of the world's largest passenger planes on order, has had a "dialogue" with Airbus about buying more, the airline's President Tim Clark told Reuters on Thursday (April 26).
    ''We can be talking anywhere between maybe 10, 15. Eventually. That of course very much depends on how Airbus are going to respond and hopefully give us the same commercial terms that we had for the other ones," said Tim Clark.
    Passenger demand from Europe, Africa, Australia and east Asia is growing, Clark said, on the day the 22-year-old carrier announced its annual financial results.
    ''China came on in a very big way. It surprised us. Africa remains strong and continues to outperform our expectations," he added.
    Emirates plans to add flights to Beijing and Shanghai, and start flying to Venice, Houston and Sao Paulo this fiscal year, its first to South America. The carrier flies to about 85 destinations as far apart as New York and Sydney with a fleet of 102 planes.
    Clark said it was unlikely Emirates would order the additional A380s this year as the company is still studying its needs to 2020. The study will be finished in the next few months, he added without being more specific.
    The airline's 2001 order for 43 A380s for delivery in 2006 was delayed by almost two years to August 2008 because of technical problems at Airbus.
    Emirates will agree on a compensation deal with Airbus for the delay next week, Clark said, declining to give details.
    Earlier on Thursday, airline Chairman Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum told reporters he may order a "small number" of A380s as early as this year.
    ''We have faith in Airbus. I think we work out through a plan with them for the delivery of the A380 in August next year so we are not far away," said Emirates Airlines chairman, Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum.
    The airline has said it is "thinking" about starting a low-cost carrier and could use the A380 for the fleet.
    Second-half profit at Emirates, the world's eighth-largest international passenger carrier, surged 20 percent after it carried more passengers and cargo, Sheikh Ahmed told reporters.
    Net income in the six months to March 31 rose to 1.9 billion dirhams ($517.4 million USD), compared with 1.58 billion dirhams ($408 million USD) in the year-earlier period, Reuters calculated, based on full-year data. The company made 3.1 billion dirhams ($844 million USD) in the year.
    The number of passengers the airline carried surged about 40 percent to
    5 million, compared with 7.52 million in the year-earlier period. It carried 17.5 million passengers in the year. Seat-factor was 76.2 percent.
    Cargo carried rose 16.3 percent to 623,000 tonnes. It carried 1.2 million tonnes in the year.
    Sheikh Ahmed said he expected profit this fiscal year to rise 10 percent.
    Emirates has about 106 aircraft on order. It plans to boost its fleet to 157 and double the number of destinations to about 170 during the next five years, adding cities in the United States, Africa and India.
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