Dubai ‘renegotiates’ plane order

Dubai ‘renegotiates’ plane order

Order for 200 Airbus and Boeing planes now in doubt.

July 3, 2010 10:28 by Samuel Potter

Dubai Aerospace Enterprises (DAE) is renegotiating 2007 orders for more than 200 aircraft, according to the National.

The orders, placed with air industry giants Boeing and Airbus, are valued at around $27 billion, says the paper. It reports that the state backed company made headlines during the 2007 Dubai Airshow when it announced the huge orders with the two aircraft makers and plans to build up a global presence in aircraft leasing.

But several media reports since then have claimed the firm has stopped making payments, and has stopped taking delivery of the planes. Instead, reports claim DAE is seeking to get out of its contractual obligations by shifting them to Dubai’s two state-owned carriers Emirates Airline and flydubai.

Now Abdulrahman al Saleh, the director general of the Dubai Department of Finance, responded to the reports by saying: “We are in negotiations.”

Emirates may have already stepped in on DAE’s behalf. The National references the Air Finance Journal, which reported the long-haul airline’s $11.5bn order last month for 32 more Airbus A380s was part of the restructuring.