$35b flight of imagination

Dubai: Emirates airline made civil aviation history yesterday by making the largest ever aircraft order.

The $34.9 billion (about Dh128 billion) order, made at Dubai Airshow, is made up of 120 Airbus 350s, 11 A380s and 12 Boeing 777-300 ERs. With this Emirates' order book stands at 246 aircraft worth $60 billion (about Dh220 billion).

The airshow was officially opened by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. It will run until Thursday.

"Emirates has created aviation history today [Sunday] by committing $35 billion for new aircraft. Our total order includes 93 aircraft on firm order and 50 options.

This is a massive investment, which reflects our confidence in the future of Dubai and air transport," said Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and CEO of Emirates group.

"The new orders represent just a part of Dubai's ambitious plan to become a global destination. At Emirates we are just trying to catch up with the multi-dimensional expansion plan of Dubai and the vision of Shaikh Mohammad," he said.

Emirates also announced the largest ever single order to Airbus by an airline. The $31 billion (about Dh113 billion) deal includes firm orders for 50 A350-900s and 20 A350-100s plus 50 options for the A350-900s.

The first A350 will be delivered to Emirates in 2014. It also announced firm orders for 8 more A380s, for which it had signed letters of intent earlier this year. Besides that it placed firm orders for an additional 3 of the double-decker aircraft bringing its total firm orders for the A380s to 58.

"Emirates is the largest A380 customer by far with 58 on order. We were the first airline to commit to the programme in 2001. The A380's capacity, range and economics all match perfectly with Emirates's business plans," Shaikh Ahmad said.

The contract with Boeing is for 12 firm orders of the 777-300 ERs valued at $3.2 billion (about Dh11.75 billion). With this new order Emirates now awaits delivery of 57 Boeing 777s.