He pointed out that unlike in the case of the A380 – which was two years late – Emirates has alternatives to buy elsewhere: “All I have to do is pick up the phone and order more Boeing 777s,†Clark stressed. He showed concerns that the schedule could already begin to slip.
“We have told Airbus numerous times that in our view they should build in more margin in terms of time and performance parameters, but they wanted to have it their way. Now they are already eating into margins,†Clark criticised.
Emirates has plans to retire 58 aircraft in the coming years, among them the A330-200s, A340-300s and the early 777-300s and 777-200s.
Clark stressed that Emirates still has a keen interest in the larger version of the A380, the A380-900, of which he believes Emirates could accommodate up to 20 A380-900s and would immediately order the aircraft if Airbus was prepared to build it and Dubai airport can handle the additional aircraft. Emirates is already the biggest A380 customer with 58 on firm order. It has eight flying and will receive seven more this year.