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Dubai airline poised to unveil massive £9bn aircraft order
From Russell Hotten at the Paris Air Show
ONE of the biggest aircraft orders in history will be made today when the Dubai-based Emirates airline unveils plans to purchase £9 billion worth of aircraft.
Airbus, the European aircraft maker that employs 10,000 people in Britain, will be the biggest beneficiary of the deal, with Emirates ordering 23 of its 550-seater A380 super-jumbo jets.
Emirates, largely unscathed by the impact of recession, Sars and the Gulf War, is also expected to order ten long-haul Airbus A340-600s and 26 Boeing 777-300s. The deal will help to lift the gloom around the beleaguered aerospace industry. It will also have a significant ripple effect on British industry: the wings for Airbus aircraft are made at Filton, near Bristol, and Broughton, North Wales. Rolls-Royce will be a contender to supply at least some of the engines. Component firms, such as GKN and Smiths Group are also sure to benefit because they are key suppliers to Airbus.
Emirates had already ordered 22 of the A380s, a new-generation double-decker aircraft that can be fitted out with business centres, entertainment facilities and showers. The aircraft is due to enter service in about 2007 and Emirates wants the aircraft to help to meet Dubai’s ambitious plans to attract ten million tourists a year by 2010.
It is believed that Qatar Airways, another successful Middle East airline, is also putting the finishing touches to an aircraft order. To date, Qatar has used only Airbus aircraft.
In total Airbus already has 103 firm orders for the A380, including from Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines, and leasing and cargo companies. Boeing, Airbus’s arch-rival, abandoned its own plans to produce a super-jumbo, believing that there was not the market to support the billions of pounds of investment needed. The A380’s development costs are about £10 billion, with about 20 per cent of that thought to come in aid from European governments.
Noel Forgeard, Airbus’s chief executive, declined to comment yesterday on the Emirates deal, saying that it was up to airlines themselves to decide “when and what” to say about contracts.
But M Forgeard reiterated forecasts that Airbus would deliver 300 aircraft in 2003, meaning it would overtake Boeing for the first time in its history. Boeing expects to deliver about 280 aircraft, and analysts had widely expected that Airbus would be forced to lower its target of 300.
The Emirates order is also good news for Boeing, but the size of the Airbus deal will take the shine off the contract for the US manufacturer.
Boeing is concentrating on developing smaller-sized aircraft, although it was forced to scrap plans for its Sonic Cruiser last year because of lack of customer interest. It is now concentrating on a mid-market 7E7, which Alan Mulally, chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said yesterday should receive its first launch customer early next year.
Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, yesterday attacked the Private Finance Initiative, saying “it was not working and in some cases was a waste of money”. His comments appeared to go further than those of Sir Richard Evans, BAE’s chairman, who last week said PFI was not always an ideal way to run defence contracts. BAE is negotiating a PFI contract to supply Hawk training aircraft to the MoD.
BAE later said Mr Turner was not talking about PFI in general, but only about the Hawk issue. Mr Turner also disclosed that BAE is renegotiating two joint ventures, with Finmeccanica in Italy and STN in Germany.
From Russell Hotten at the Paris Air Show
ONE of the biggest aircraft orders in history will be made today when the Dubai-based Emirates airline unveils plans to purchase £9 billion worth of aircraft.
Airbus, the European aircraft maker that employs 10,000 people in Britain, will be the biggest beneficiary of the deal, with Emirates ordering 23 of its 550-seater A380 super-jumbo jets.
Emirates, largely unscathed by the impact of recession, Sars and the Gulf War, is also expected to order ten long-haul Airbus A340-600s and 26 Boeing 777-300s. The deal will help to lift the gloom around the beleaguered aerospace industry. It will also have a significant ripple effect on British industry: the wings for Airbus aircraft are made at Filton, near Bristol, and Broughton, North Wales. Rolls-Royce will be a contender to supply at least some of the engines. Component firms, such as GKN and Smiths Group are also sure to benefit because they are key suppliers to Airbus.
Emirates had already ordered 22 of the A380s, a new-generation double-decker aircraft that can be fitted out with business centres, entertainment facilities and showers. The aircraft is due to enter service in about 2007 and Emirates wants the aircraft to help to meet Dubai’s ambitious plans to attract ten million tourists a year by 2010.
It is believed that Qatar Airways, another successful Middle East airline, is also putting the finishing touches to an aircraft order. To date, Qatar has used only Airbus aircraft.
In total Airbus already has 103 firm orders for the A380, including from Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines, and leasing and cargo companies. Boeing, Airbus’s arch-rival, abandoned its own plans to produce a super-jumbo, believing that there was not the market to support the billions of pounds of investment needed. The A380’s development costs are about £10 billion, with about 20 per cent of that thought to come in aid from European governments.
Noel Forgeard, Airbus’s chief executive, declined to comment yesterday on the Emirates deal, saying that it was up to airlines themselves to decide “when and what” to say about contracts.
But M Forgeard reiterated forecasts that Airbus would deliver 300 aircraft in 2003, meaning it would overtake Boeing for the first time in its history. Boeing expects to deliver about 280 aircraft, and analysts had widely expected that Airbus would be forced to lower its target of 300.
The Emirates order is also good news for Boeing, but the size of the Airbus deal will take the shine off the contract for the US manufacturer.
Boeing is concentrating on developing smaller-sized aircraft, although it was forced to scrap plans for its Sonic Cruiser last year because of lack of customer interest. It is now concentrating on a mid-market 7E7, which Alan Mulally, chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said yesterday should receive its first launch customer early next year.
Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, yesterday attacked the Private Finance Initiative, saying “it was not working and in some cases was a waste of money”. His comments appeared to go further than those of Sir Richard Evans, BAE’s chairman, who last week said PFI was not always an ideal way to run defence contracts. BAE is negotiating a PFI contract to supply Hawk training aircraft to the MoD.
BAE later said Mr Turner was not talking about PFI in general, but only about the Hawk issue. Mr Turner also disclosed that BAE is renegotiating two joint ventures, with Finmeccanica in Italy and STN in Germany.