A380 weighs heavily on Emirates’ wallet

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, March 14, 2007

The Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner isn’t the only overweight new jet (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/02/07/100bus_787001.cfm).

Airbus’s A380, which is roughly two years behind schedule, still weighs about six tons too much for the superjumbo jet’s leading customer, according to an Air Transport World story out today (http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=8229). Dubai-based Emirates has ordered 45 A380s, worth $15 billion.

Airline officials have been outspoken in their disappointment over the delays in the A380 program, which will push back the delivery of Emirates first superjumbo jet by 21 months. In December, an Emirates executive said the carrier would seek financial compensation because it had been “badly hurt” by the European company’s setbacks.

The airline’s president said the plane’s excess weight will cost the carrier even more to operate than anticipated.