Airbus delivery delays Emirates expansion
Dubai-based airline Emirates said today that delays in deliveries of the Airbus A380 superjumbo had set back the group's expansion plans.
The company has 45 superjumbos on order from Airbus, which has been hit by cost overruns and delays on the project,
Emirates, which sponsors Premiership football team Arsenal, is now expecting the first of the aircraft to arrive in August 2008 - two years late.
It said the delays had forced the carrier to "revisit" expansion plans, although a spokesman added that the firm was "considering" fresh orders of the superjumbo.
Despite the delays and pressure from fuel costs, the group posted record net profits of 3.5bn dirhams (€700.95m) for the year to March 31, 23.5% ahead of the previous year.
Emirates chief executive and chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said: "These results, against a backdrop of rising costs and significant aircraft delivery delays which have impacted capacity growth, demonstrate our ability to adapt and knuckle down to the challenge."
The company is now the eighth largest international carrier in the world and took delivery of 12 new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft over the financial year, bringing its total fleet to 102.
Emirates has a 111bn dirhams (€22.23bn) order book for 107 new planes in total and said it would be receiving around one new aircraft a month on average over the next eight years.
The company's fuel bill accounted for 29.1% of operating costs, up from 27.1% the year before.
Sheikh Ahmed added: "Emirates is exposed to fuel price fluctuations, rising interest rates and the volatility of the US dollar against major currencies - all of which we have very little control over."
But group revenues also soared by 28.4% to 31.1bn dirhams (€6.22bn) with an extra three million passengers flying with the airline over the last year bringing total passenger numbers to a record 17.5 million.
