Emirates eyes 120 A380s, works with Boeing on 777

Emirates eyes 120 A380s, works with Boeing on 777

Emirates will fulfill all its 90 orders so far for the A380 superjumbo-says President Tim Clark .

October 13, 2010 8:44 by Reuters

Dubai carrier Emirates , the Arab world’s largest airline, aims to have 120 Airbus A380s when new airport space is available and is working with Boeing on the next generation of 777 jets.

Emirates, whose passengers are growing at 20 percent annually and expects to maintain this level for the next five years, will fulfill all its 90 orders so far for the A380 superjumbo, President Tim Clark told Reuters in an interview.

“We would like some more but we are going to run short of space,” he said. “120 was the baseline figure that the planners worked to get where we needed to be, but we couldn’t order that amount because it was too many for here so 90 was a compromise.”

The carrier will order more when it gets additional space at its home base in Dubai, he added.

The target implies a future Emirates order for 30 of the world’s largest airliner, worth $10 billion at list prices, at an unspecified date. If the airline went ahead with its growth plans it would have an A380 fleet worth over $40 billion.

Emirates, already by far the biggest customer for A380, announced a record $11 billion order for 32 superjumbos at the Berlin Air Show in June.

At July’s Farnborough Air Show, Emirates also ordered 30 Boeing 777-300ER wide-body planes, a deal worth potentially more than $9 billion.

Clark said the airline is collaborating with Boeing to find a solution for the manufacturer’s wide-body 777 aircraft, but said he could not share more details.

“We are working with Boeing on the next generation of 777. We are still very interested in a replacement,” he said.

Boeing has said it is looking at the future of the aircraft which faces competition from the future Airbus A350-1000.

(Reporting by Tamara Walid; Editing by Tim Hepher)