Emirates is close to a substantial aircraft order of as many as 100 to 150 jets as it prepares to replace its fleet of Airbus SE A380 double-decker planes, due to come offline early next decade.
The airline is “close to doing something that will involve buying more Airbus A350s and Boeing Co. 777s,” and “maybe also Boeing’s smaller 787 Dreamliner,” Emirates President Tim Clark said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Istanbul at the IATA annual general meeting on Tuesday.
“We will be making orders fairly soon,” Clark said. The airline will seek to place the orders for delivery starting 2027 through 2033, with the A380 planes exiting operation in 2032. “It could come next week, it could come at the Dubai Air Show,” he said.
Clark said demand for flying is the strongest it’s been in a long time, with the possibility of some “tapering toward the middle of next year.”
In parallel, IATA boosted its industry profit forecast to $9.8 billion from $4.7 billion cheered by strong travel demand and an easing in oil prices. Revenue is expected to grow to $803 billion, inching closer to 2019's pre-pandemic level of $838 billion.
“The pandemic years are behind us, and borders are open as normal,” said the director general of the International Air Transport Association William Walsh.
“Margins are, however, wafer thin,” he added.
Emirates Group reported a record profit during FY 2022-2023 of 10.9 billion dirhams ($2.96 billion), compared with a 3.8 billion dirhams ($ 1.1 billion) loss in the previous year. The Group’s revenue recorded in the FY ending March an increase of 81% to 119.8 billion dirhams ($32.6 billion).
