Planes

Airbus gets $11 billion Emirates order

Emirates and Airbus announced Tuesday that the Middle Eastern airline is ordering an additional 32 Airbus super-jumbo planes worth $11.5 billion.

This means that the Dubai-based Emirates is expanding its original order of 58 Airbus A380 super-jumbos to a total of 90.

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chief executive of Emirates, signed off on the deal with Tom Enders, chief executive of the French aircraft manufacturer Airbus, at the Berlin Air Show.

Al-Maktoum described the A380 as his airline's "flagship" and said it furthered his strategy "to become a world leading carrier."

Enders said his Airbus deals with Emirates have helped to employ "tens of thousands of Europe's best people."

Emirates and Airbus signed the deal just one day after the International Air Transport Association, the global industry's trade group, announced that airlines would make a profit of $2.5 billion in 2010, their first profit since 2007.

Emirates is attempting to create one of the largest capacities of any international carrier, with a fleet of 48 Airbus 380s, 70 Airbus 350s, 18 Boeing 777-300s and seven Boeing air freighters on order, for a total of 143 wide-body aircraft worth more than $48 billion.

(Published by Fortune Magazine – June 8, 2010)