A380 delivery delays possible after 2011 - Emirates chief

The chairman of airline Emirates on Tuesday said he couldn't rule out delays to the delivery of the Airbus A380 aircraft after 2011.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said delivery for the superjumbos, of which a total of 58 were originally ordered, were on schedule until 2011.

"2009, 2010, 2011 are on schedule. After that we will have to review it," he told Arabian Business on sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

He said Emirates had recently received one A380 aircraft, taking its total fleet to five.

He admitted that the state of the airline industry could "be better" but was upbeat on the outlook for 2009.

He said: "It can be better but we are operating very well. Booking is good. I think we will have an early summer with Ramadan pushing into the middle of August, so you will see a lot of traffic in and out before that time."

The Emirates chief added that the airline's passenger load factor -an industry benchmark- was up compared to this time last year and was running at 74 percent last week.

Tight credit markets and a drop in air travel due to rising fuel prices and the global downturn has thrown into doubt Emirates’ ability to fund its massive expansion plans.

Back in March the carrier admitted it was concerned over the reliability of the A380s and held talks with the European plane maker.

Emirates, the A380’s biggest customer, said in March that a drop in traffic between Dubai and New York had made the superjumbo unsuitable after seven months on the route. The carrier said it would switch to Boeing’s smaller 777.

Air France KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, has postponed two deliveries of A380s, and Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa will take its first two in 2010 instead of this year. Kingfisher Airlines of India deferred its first delivery of the A380 to 2014 from 2012.

Emirates have a fleet of 132 aircrafts and fly to over 100 destinations in 61 countries.

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