Miami: Emirates airline will move into the second stage of its growth once it shifts to Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) next decade that includes 100 new destinations and room to double its fleet, President Tim Clark said on Tuesday.
"[There are] cities of first-, second- and third-level, towns, provinces all around the world that are still not served by Emirates and not meaningfully served by other main line carriers and 100 of those we have on our radar," Clark told reporters at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual meet in Miami.
Emirates, the world's largest airline by international seating capacity, currently flies to more than 140 destinations from its current home airport, Dubai International.
The airline is scheduled to shift over to DWC located in the south of Dubai along the Abu Dhabi border some time around 2025 when a $32-billion project expanding the airport to 120 million annual passenger capacity is completed.
The airline is facing constraints at Dubai International, which is the world's busiest by international passenger traffic.
"That will change when DWC comes online," Clark said.
Bigger fleet
Emirates fleet will be between 280 and 300 widebody aircraft by the time it shifts to DWC, Clark said, up from around 230 today.
"There is nothing stopping us to doubling the size of the airline [to 600 aircraft] once we get to DWC," Clark added.
Clark has previously said the airline would be able to operate 250 Airbus A380s from DWC. It currently operates 61 from a total order of 140.
