Emirates to receive 21 new Airbus A380s and 16 Boeing 777s worth $14.5bn

An Emirates A380 lands in London. The Dubai carrier is adding to its A380 fleet this year. Courtesy Emirates

Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, plans to add 37 new planes to its fleet in the fiscal year beginning April as it expands operations in Asia with new destinations.

The airline will receive 21 Airbus A380 superjumbos and 16 Boeing 777s in the year ending March 2017, chief commercial officer Thierry Antinori said on Wednesday in Singapore. The aircraft are worth $14.5 billion at list prices.

Emirates already serves about 150 destinations in about 80 countries using the industry’s biggest wide-body fleet. The Dubai-based airline will begin operations to Panama in February in what will be the longest nonstop commercial flight by any carrier, overtaking Qantas Airways’s service to Dallas from Sydney.

“We will continue to grow,” Mr Antinori said. “We will continue to invest, innovate, have a younger fleet. It’s about creating new markets.”

Emirates also plans to retire 26 airplanes, including some A330s and A340s, from its fleet, Mr Antinori said. The airline is studying an order for Airbus’s A350-900 and -1000 variants along with Boeing’s 787-9 and -10 models.

Emirates has said it will fly to new destinations this year, including Cebu in the Philippines and two cities in China.

It also announced today that it will operate five daily flights between Dubai and Colombo ever day except Wednesdays when it will operate four flights. The move will start from August 1.

The new flight will add another 2,520 seats and up to 161 tonnes in cargo capacity per week in each direction between Colombo and Dubai, facilitating further trade opportunities between Sri Lanka and Emirates’ global network.

The carrier had 247 aircraft in operations as of January 17, with 257 on order.

Singapore Airlines plans to operate A350-900ULR to restart the world’s longest non-stop flight to New York in 2018. Emirates cancelled an order for 70 A350s in 2014 and is currently reevaluating its requirement for the model.

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