Emirates Signs for 20 Boeing 747-8 Freighters

See following release issued for Emirates Airline:

Media Release
9 October 2006

Emirates Signs for 20 Boeing 747-8 Freighters

Emirates Airline has signed a contract for 10 Boeing 747-8 Freighters, and announced purchase rights for a further 10 747-8Fs. The combined value of these 20 aircraft is an estimated US$5.6 billion at list prices.

The contract formalises the airline's order for the initial 10, announced at the Farnborough Air Show earlier this year.

The contract was signed in Dubai by HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, and Ken Schultz, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Sales Director. Also in attendance at the ceremony were Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman- Emirates Airline & Group, Tim Clark, Emirates Airline President, Ram Menen, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo, Hiran Perera, Emirates Vice President Cargo - Freighters, Geoffrey Rapp, Marketing Director of Middle East and North Africa for Boeing and Sami Y. Lahoud, Communications Director for the Middle East and Africa for Boeing.

Sheikh Ahmed said, "Our order for the 747-8Fs will be essential in helping us service our rapidly growing network of 28 freighter destinations, which include exclusive freighter services in Bangalore, Lilongwe, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, and Taipei. Our cargo operations currently also serve Emirates' 85 destinations as belly-hold space in our scheduled passenger services."

These include four flights a day from New Zealand to Dubai and beyond, via Australia.

The 747-8Fs will effectively meet Emirates SkyCargo's increasing requirement for additional capacity and operational flexibility. The 747-8Fs further offer reduced noise, lower emissions and reduced trip costs, as well as generous payload capacity with 140 metric tones.

The acquisition will position the carrier to take advantage of a strong regional and international cargo market. Air cargo traffic into, out of and within the Middle East accounted for 5.8 percent of the world's tonnage and nearly five percent of the world's revenue tonne-kilometres during 2005.

The firm order of 10 aircraft is valued at approximately $2.8 billion at list prices and first delivery is scheduled for 2010. The carrier currently operates nine wide-bodied Boeing 747Fs and Airbus A310Fs, and also has on order eight Boeing 777Fs.

Dubai-based Emirates is one of the world's most successful and profitable international airlines. It currently operates a fleet of 98 wide-bodied aircraft to 85 destinations around the globe. Over the past decade, Emirates has been recording double-digit growth annually, and it currently receives an average of one new aircraft per month.

The current total value of Emirates orders of more than 100 wide-bodied jets pending delivery is approximately US$ 30 billion.

ENDS

© Scoop Media