With 45 aircraft on firm order, Emirates is the world's largest customer of the A380 aircraft. Emirates' orders for the superjumbo amount to a full third of all orders received by Airbus for the new aircraft, from more than a dozen of the world's airlines.
With a combined value of almost US$15 billion at list price, this is a huge investment by Emirates and an unmistakable sign of its commitment to the product and its belief in it as a key element of its future fleet.
The first critical factor in Emirates huge order is the airline's need today for an aircraft w/ the high capacity/low operating cost combination offered by the A380.
Emirates has embraced the new aircraft more quickly and massively than other carriers because its rate of expansion is much higher than that of most other airlines and is more hobbled by capacity constraints than them. In a nutshell, Emirates wants more A380s because it needs more of them, and the sooner the better.
Over a 20-year history of rapid growth, Emirates has learned that the greatest impediment to its development is not in customer demand but in the number of seats it can offer. The result is an A380 order book that will make Emirates the world's largest operator of the new aircraft for at least the first decade from its launch.
As Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Emirates Group Chairman put it, "The A380 is an ambitious aircraft that meets our ambitious growth strategy. Every single one of the A380s we have ordered has been carefully planned for and supports present and future network needs. It will play a significant part in our expansion in a way that no other aircraft could."
He added: "By 2012 our current 73-strong fleet will more than double in size, while enabling us to carry a lot more than twice the present number of passengers, because the average size of the aircraft will be substantially bigger. We will be able to offer more seats, in ever greater comfort, without depending so much on frequency increases."
He concluded: "The A380 will give us some of the lowest seat costs in the industry. It is an essential solution at slot-constrained airports. It will be an impressive people carrier, while offering more, not less, passenger comfort and amenities. We are striving to make the flying experience enjoyable again, and the A380 will be a great tool in support of this goal."
