Emirates looks at A380 delays

London: A further five-month delay in the delivery of Airbus A380s could affect Emirates' growth next year, Tim Clark, Emirates president, has revealed.

"Some of our route expansion plans will be impacted due to a further delay in the delivery of A380s. We wanted to put them back on the New York route, but that will be delayed by at least six months," he told a roundtable at the second day of the World Travel Market.

"We will now have 15 A380s by the end of 2010, instead of the planned 20. So, we will be down by five A380s which will obviously impact our growth plan.

"However, despite this, we are projected to take [delivery] of 22 aircraft worth $3 billion (Dh11 billion) within this financial year."

Emirates, the biggest carrier in the Arab world, recently announced that its profit grew 165 per cent to Dh752 million during the first half of its financial year ended September 30, through cost cutting measures and the freezing of recruitment.

This was compared to Dh284 million recorded for the same period in 2008. This was a major improvement on the 5 per cent net profit growth for last year.

Recruitment

Clark said the airline was back in a hiring mode as it was growing. "I've just signed off on the recruitment plan," he said.

Clark also said the airline's passengers could soon be able to access data through BlackBerry handsets as Emirates is currently evaluating bids from two service vendors — Aeromobile and OnAir.

However, he would not give a definite timeframe.

"It will be soon, although I could not give you a definite time table, [it] could be in a few months. We've proposals from both vendors on the table," he said.

"However, we'd like to be absolutely sure on its performance as this is high on demand from our customers," he added.

Clark said the airline could beat full-year forecasts. "When the crisis hit, we started taking stock of the situation. Although we maintain a lean operation, we discovered space where we could save costs. From our suppliers..., we saved some Dh400 million and maximised efficiencies across the airline," he said, explaining how the airline came back strongly to register higher growth under the current economic situation.

"In addition to these cost-cutting measures, we were greeted by a drastic fall in oil prices. However, for the full year we expect to beat forecasts and could make more than 20 per cent growth in profits."

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