Emirates buys 41 planes from Airbus

Emirates Airline signed a deal on Monday to buy 41 planes from Airbus Industrie, including 21 A380s, the 500- to 650-seat behemoth that Airbus is building. The order is valued at US$12.5 billion, making it one of the largest civil aircraft orders ever placed.

The order for the A380s, signed at the Paris Air Show, was a significant sign of support for the plane, which has been heavily criticized by the Boeing Co, a rival of Airbus, as being too big for the needs of the world's airlines.

Emirates trying to transform itself into a globe-circling airline that will carry passengers between Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas through its hub in Dubai. The aircraft order fits into that business model.

All the jets in the order are long-range aircraft built for use in transcontinental hub networks. In addition to the A380s, Emirates ordered 18 A340-600s and two A340-500s, and it agreed to lease two more A340-600s and two A380s from the International Lease Finance Corp, a subsidiary of the giant insurer American International Group.

Emirates ordered a total of 110 planes from Airbus, a European consortium, making it Airbus' largest Middle East-based customer. All told, it has ordered 45 A380s, the most of any airline. The first of the A380s in the new order are due to be delivered in the spring of 2009.

Noel Forgeard, chief executive of Airbus, said, "Emirates has now decided where it wants to be in the coming decade."

As for Airbus, he said, the order is "vital for us."

The two men signed the contract before dozens of photographers and news-camera operators, the closest thing to a paparazzi mob seen so far at the air show.

Emirates' now consists of 48 passenger planes and three freighters, about evenly divided between Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s. The airline filled an average of 74 percent of its seats with paying customers last year, up from 71.5 percent in 2001.

Emirates, which started out mainly serving the Middle East, has been profitable for 17 of its 18 years, though not hugely so. Last year, it reported a profit of US$2.9 million on US$2 billion in revenue. It is owned by the government of Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates, and Ahmed also serves as head of the emirates' Civil Aviation Department.

A third of the airline's revenue comes from flights between Europe and Dubai, with the highest frequency of flights being between London and Dubai.