By John Irish
DUBAI, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Emirates airline is in talks with Boeing and Airbus to buy 'tens of planes', possibly 777s and A330s, as the airline prepares for the global recovery, its chairman said on Monday.
The Arab world's largest airline, which has $55 billion of orders with the two manufacturers, last week said it might take over orders its rivals are looking to delay or cancel.
'We are in discussions ... there won't be anything at the airshow (but) we are talking to Boeing and Airbus,' Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum told reporters at the Dubai Airshow. 'It would be in the 10s of planes ... I think we can say 777s (from Boeing) and could be A330s on the Airbus side.'
The airline's chairman said any decision would depend 'on how fast we can conclude the terms that we want'.
'At the end of the day we are not buying chocolate, we are buying aircraft which costs a lot of money,' he said.
Presdent Tim Clark told Reuters last week Dubai's state-owned carrier faced delays in delivery of A380 superjumbos slated for mid-2010, a development likely to hit its route expansion plan.
Emirates is the largest customer for the superjumbo, with 58 aircraft on order.
Sheikh Ahmed said the airline had no immediate plans to increase that order and still believed in the plane, which will begin serving the Dubai-Paris route in January.
European plane maker Airbus has said it expects a spate of order cancellations and postponements by cash-strapped airlines this winter.
Emirates still had a letter of intent (LoI) with Airbus for 30 A330-300s and 30 A350XWBs, which was also under discussion, Sheikh Ahmed said.
The carrier would also be interested in a larger version of the 787 plane if Boeing were to offer it.
'Yes if it comes it could be a possibility ... I would never rule out anything on any new aircraft that could be suitable for Emirates,' Sheikh Ahmed said.
PROFITABILITY
Emirates would see 'excellent' profits for the year, he said.
'I think we should do better than what we were expecting ... double what we saw in the first six months, about 2 billion dirhams in profit.'
Earlier this month the airline reported it made a profit in the first half of its financial year which ends Sept. 30 of 752 million dirhams ($205 million), up from 284 million dirhams made in the same period a year earlier.
Emirates' 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.
Nonetheless, the airline's chairman said the carrier did not make any job cuts or cut salaries to achieve the results.
Airlines around the world have been crippled by reduced spending on travel, a drop in global trade and rising oil prices. To cut their bloated cost bases, many have grounded planes and cancelled or deferred aircraft orders.
For more news and analysis from the Dubai Airshow, click on
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Jon Loades-Carter) Keywords: EMIRATES ORDERS/ (Dubai newsroom; +971 4 391 8301) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
DUBAI, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Emirates airline is in talks with Boeing and Airbus to buy 'tens of planes', possibly 777s and A330s, as the airline prepares for the global recovery, its chairman said on Monday.
The Arab world's largest airline, which has $55 billion of orders with the two manufacturers, last week said it might take over orders its rivals are looking to delay or cancel.
'We are in discussions ... there won't be anything at the airshow (but) we are talking to Boeing and Airbus,' Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum told reporters at the Dubai Airshow. 'It would be in the 10s of planes ... I think we can say 777s (from Boeing) and could be A330s on the Airbus side.'
The airline's chairman said any decision would depend 'on how fast we can conclude the terms that we want'.
'At the end of the day we are not buying chocolate, we are buying aircraft which costs a lot of money,' he said.
Presdent Tim Clark told Reuters last week Dubai's state-owned carrier faced delays in delivery of A380 superjumbos slated for mid-2010, a development likely to hit its route expansion plan.
Emirates is the largest customer for the superjumbo, with 58 aircraft on order.
Sheikh Ahmed said the airline had no immediate plans to increase that order and still believed in the plane, which will begin serving the Dubai-Paris route in January.
European plane maker Airbus has said it expects a spate of order cancellations and postponements by cash-strapped airlines this winter.
Emirates still had a letter of intent (LoI) with Airbus for 30 A330-300s and 30 A350XWBs, which was also under discussion, Sheikh Ahmed said.
The carrier would also be interested in a larger version of the 787 plane if Boeing were to offer it.
'Yes if it comes it could be a possibility ... I would never rule out anything on any new aircraft that could be suitable for Emirates,' Sheikh Ahmed said.
PROFITABILITY
Emirates would see 'excellent' profits for the year, he said.
'I think we should do better than what we were expecting ... double what we saw in the first six months, about 2 billion dirhams in profit.'
Earlier this month the airline reported it made a profit in the first half of its financial year which ends Sept. 30 of 752 million dirhams ($205 million), up from 284 million dirhams made in the same period a year earlier.
Emirates' 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.
Nonetheless, the airline's chairman said the carrier did not make any job cuts or cut salaries to achieve the results.
Airlines around the world have been crippled by reduced spending on travel, a drop in global trade and rising oil prices. To cut their bloated cost bases, many have grounded planes and cancelled or deferred aircraft orders.
For more news and analysis from the Dubai Airshow, click on
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Jon Loades-Carter) Keywords: EMIRATES ORDERS/ (Dubai newsroom; +971 4 391 8301) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2009 AFX News
