UAE-based airline major Emirates has received its 50th A380 aircraft, taking the total to 224 wide-body aircraft and representing the world?s largest fleet of A380s
The 50th aircraft would begin operations by August 2014, according to Emirates.
John Leahy, CEO of Airbus-Customers, said, ?The A380 is pleasing its operators by increasing passenger traffic, strengthening load factors and improving their market share. The delivery of the 50th A380 to Emirates shows the profit enhancing capabilities of this aircraft.?
According to reports, Emirates has also placed an order worth US$56bn to purchase 150 Boeing 777X jets ? the latest version of Boeing?s wide-body jet, which carries a list price of up to US$320mn.
Since 2010, the airline has registered a 71 per cent growth, received 96 aircraft and added 48 cities to its global destination network, said company officials.
Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, added, ?The airline has seen tremendous organic growth in the past four years, probably the fastest of any airline in history. We?ve literally added capacity equivalent to what some mid-sized airlines operate, but more significantly, we have maintained high seat loads and profitability. This speaks to the strength of our world-class product, and also our business model which is based on an efficient global hub that connects Dubai to the world, and almost any two cities in the world via Dubai.
?Moving forward, we will see quite a ramp up in the delivery programme and by late 2017, we will have around 90 A380s in our fleet to support existing and new A380 route.?
