Exclusive: Emirates To Have 43 A380s By Year-End – President Tim Clark

Dubai-based Emirates will take delivery of seven new Airbus A380s by the end of this year, the carrier’s president Tim Clark has revealed.

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual Gulf Business Industry Awards, Clark said: “We have got our hands full – we have seven A380s that are being delivered between now and the end of December.

“So we will be up to 43 of those when some of the carriers in the region are just beginning to take their first one – so you can imagine how big the airline has become,” he exclusively told Gulf Business.

Emirates has led the way in the region in the deployment of the jumbo A380 aircrafts, with Qatar Airways expected to take delivery of its first A380 next year and Etihad Airways placing its first order for the jumbo jet in July 2013.

Dubai’s Emirates also celebrated the fifth anniversary of its A380 in August this year. The airline now flies to 21 A380 destinations and has carried more than 18 million passengers on the double decker aircraft, it said. More routes are planned for the jumbo jet, revealed Clark.

“We are now putting A380s now into Los Angeles, Brisbane, Zurich and Barcelona. And there are other routes coming up,” he said.

The airline, which recently launched new routes to Boston, Kiev and Clarke in the Philippines, is also looking at further expansion.

“New routes are on the drawing board now,” Clark said, without disclosing further details.

The fast-growing airline was the recipient of the prestigious Gulf Business UAE Company of the Year award – chosen by Gulf Business readers, and the Aviation Company of the Year award for 2013.