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Emirates is looking to fill the capacity void created by the Airbus A380 delay with the lease of up to seven Boeing 777-300ERs. Meanwhile, fellow A380 customer Virgin Atlantic is in talks with Airbus about the impact of its A380 delays.
Until the recent rescheduling, Emirates was due to get the first of the 45 A380s it has on order in October next year, but this has been pushed back to October 2008 - by which time the airline should have had 18 A380s in service under the original schedule.
Emirates Airline president Tim Clark told Flight International recently that the latest delay had "compromised Emirates' network growth, given the numbers of A380s we have purchased". He now says that Emirates "will probably acquire five or seven more 777-300ERs for delivery in the second half of 2008", and talks are under way with various lessors.
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Emirates will lease additional 777-300ERs to cover for its short-term capacity loss inflicted by the A380 delay |
Emirates is a major 777 operator, with over 40 in service including 19 -300ERs. It has a further 35 -300ERs on order.
Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic, which has six A380s on order, is expecting a response from Airbus this week to a list of proposals it had submitted relating to the delay. The proposals were drawn up at a board meeting the airline held in mid-October.
"The board members agreed on a set of proposals relating to the order, and these have been shared with Airbus," says Virgin Atlantic.
The airline had sought a response from Airbus no later than the end of last week, but the manufacturer requested more time and is now expected to provide answers this week.
Source: Flight International
