By Bryan Corliss
Herald Writer
Emirates Airline is poised to order at least 25 Boeing 777s, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.
A Boeing Co. spokesman said he was not aware of any pending deal, but confirmed that representatives of the company are in the Middle East this week talking with the airline.
In November, the airline announced its intention to order 25 777s from Boeing, a deal with a value of $6.6 billion at list prices, although discounts are common.
It was part of a $15 billion fleet expansion announced at November’s Dubai Air Show. Emirates also announced its intention to buy 33 Airbus jets, including 22 A380 superjumbos. The announcement made a significant splash in the aviation world, coming barely eight weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks.
However, the deal for the 777s never was concluded, Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokesman Lewis Brinson said. The company and airline still are talking about it.
On Thursday, Emirates managing director Maurice Flanagan told Bloomberg the airline wants more 777s than it originally anticipated.
"We are constantly reviewing the market, and we now believe demand will grow even faster than we predicted," he said.
Emirates is looking for long-range planes to start flights to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in 2003, he said. The following year, it will start service to Washington, D.C., and Toronto. The airline wants to add South America to its route list by 2006.
In the meantime, Emirates plans to add more flights to its existing routes to Europe and India, Flanagan said.
Based in Dubai, Emirates now operates a mix of Boeing 777-200s and 777-300s on long-range flights, and Airbus A300s, A310s and A330s on shorter routes.
The airline is the Middle East’s fastest-growing. Managers say they intend to have a fleet of 100 planes by 2010.
You can call Herald Writer Bryan Corliss at 425-339-3454
or send e-mail to corliss@heraldnet.com.
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