SINGAPORE, 1 November 2007 — Dubai’s Emirates Airline is likely to place more orders in the future for the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger plane, to meet its expansion plans, a senior executive said yesterday.
Emirates Airline and Group is Airbus’ biggest customer for the massive jet, with 55 A380 planes already on order. It is expected to start taking delivery of the plane in August 2008. “Fifty-five, so far. There could be more later,” Executive Vice Chairman Maurice Flanagan told the Associated Press on the sidelines of an aviation conference in Singapore. He declined to give details.
Flanagan said the airline is expanding its capacity by more than 20 percent a year, and that its rapid growth is likely to continue in tandem with Dubai’s increased presence as an aviation hub. “We see that going on and on in the future,” Flanagan said.
“It’s linked to what’s happening in Dubai and the power of Dubai as a global aviation hub whereby we can connect any two points in the world now with one stop only in Dubai.”
