Dubai's Emirates airline has bucked the trend of the beleaguered aviation industry by placing orders with industry giants Airbus and Boeing worth $15 billion to meet ambitious plans to establish itself as the tourist and transport hub of the Middle East.
At a time when airlines worldwide are announcing thousands of job cuts and a reduction in flights, the government of Dubai is gambling on its national carrier to help build the future of the Gulf emirate.
"Our unwavering aim is to make (Dubai) the best place to do business, the top tourist destination and transport hub of the region and the undisputed commercial and communications capital of the Middle East," Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum said Sunday.
"This record-breaking aircraft order is a key component in this charismatic strategy," said Sheikh Mohammad, also defense minister of the United Arab Emirates. "We are not content simply to wait for the future -- we are building it."
Despite the September 11 terror attacks in the United States and a global economic slowdown, Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmad Bin Said Al-Maktoum said the huge order including 22 Airbus A380 superjumbos and 25 Boeing 777s, was not out of place and came within the framework of Sheikh Mohammad's planning vision for the emirate.
Emirates also took options on 10 more A380s, ordered three twin-engined A330 Airbuses and signed a letter of intent for eight of the larger four-engined A340-600 Airbuses.
"Short term, airlines have seen their business dip. Long term, air travel remains firmly on course to double in the next 15 years. Even today we need larger aircraft, let alone in five years when our first A380 leaves the runway at Dubai."
By 2006, as one of the world's fastest growing and most successful airlines, we expect to be flying more than twice as many passengers as we do now. To do this, we need more, larger aircraft," Sheikh Ahmad said. "The arithmetic is inescapable."
"These orders are part of a carefully planned strategy reflecting the vision of Sheikh Mohammad to develop Dubai so that it can attract 15 million visitors by 2010," Sheikh Ahmad added "When the airline was started in 1985, Sheikh Mohammad said to buy whatever was necessary for the airline to succeed," he said.
With oil resources running out, Dubai -- which boasts 282 hotels for a population of just 900,000 -- has launched a multi-billion-dollar drive to corner the market as the Gulf's premier tourist destination. It has focused on resorts and shopping and succeeded in attracting 2.5 million tourists in 2000. To accommodate the predicted tourist influx over the coming decade, Dubai airport is due to undergo a $1.4 billion expansion by 2002, to hike annual capacity to 30 million passengers by 2010 and 62 million by 2020.
"These are difficult times for the airline industry but the dynamics of the business require us to plan ahead to meet the anticipated global demand and growth in air travel," Sheikh Ahmad said.
Emirates currently has a fleet of 36 aircraft serving 56 cities in 39 countries. Last year it carried 5.7 million passengers and 335,200 tons of air freight, earning a record $85 million in profits. — (AFP, Dubai)
by Luke Phillips
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
