Emirates announces delays to A380 could affect expansion plans

Emirates President, Tim Clark, announced a further five month delay to A380 deliveries may slow the carrier's expansion plans in 2010, including services to New York (Gulf News, 11-Nov-2009). Emirates was initially scheduled to increase its A380 fleet to 20 aircraft by the end of 2010. However, the carrier now expects to operate 15 A380s by the end of 2010, owing to delays. Mr Clark added the carrier intends to enable in-flight mobile services and is evaluating bids from Aeromobile and OnAir.

Emirates: "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. 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 USD3 billion within this financial year," Tim Clark, President. Source: Gulf News, 11-Nov-2009.