Emirates airlines on Wednesday marked 10 years of world’s largest passenger aircraft Airbus A380, carrying more than 105 million passengers and flying over 1.5 billion kilometres.
An analyst noted the airline is planning its future beyond A380. The Boeing 777x and 787 are likely to form the backbone of Dubai carrier’s long haul fleet in the coming 10 years.
The Dubai-based airline operates 104 double-decker aircraft and flies to 49 cities in six continents. In the last decade, it flew 115,000 flights of A380, which is equivalent to 39,000 trips around the globe. Across all classes, over 120 million meals have been served on the A380 since 2008.
Saj Ahmad, chief analyst, StrategicAero Research, pointed out there’s no question that the A380 has been a big money-spinner for Emirates and that the airline exploits its Dubai hub with this behemoth to great effect.
“Emirates is also planning its future beyond the A380 too. No airplane lasts forever and its reality that as it ages, new and more efficient inductees in 777X and the 787 will start to form the backbone of Emirates’ long haul fleet for the next decade and beyond,” Ahmad stressed in a statement to Khaleej Times.
He forecast that Emirates’ plans to induct up to 200 777Xs which will primarily replace today’s 777s, but by the time it takes its 200th 777X delivery, the A380 fleet will be operationally expensive and economically inefficient — so it stands to reason that they’ll procure more 777Xs and 787s going forward.
Until then, Emirates is enjoying its dominance, thanks to the allure of the A380 for its passengers and successful harmonization of airline’s growth and pricing in tandem with the economies of scale that it has with its huge widebody fleet.
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