With Emirates ordering 50 Airbus A380s and 150 more Boeing 777Xs at the 2013 Dubai Airshow, aviation analysts are not expecting orders fireworks this year. Emirates' president, Sir Tim Clark, described the 2013 orders as "historic" in September, but the smart money has been on a more restrained announcement this time around, merely cementing earlier deals.

However, one informed commentator is not convinced. "The game-changer could be an A380neo," Richard Aboulafia, vice president, analysis, Teal Group Corporation, told AIN. "They could buy 100. You can't rule it out."

Aboulafia said more orders for the 777X derivative were unlikely at this show. "The only additional Emirates orders would be to compensate for the cancelled A350s. They said they are looking at more 787s or A350s."

Emirates' order book is still larger than its active fleet. As at September 20, the airline had 239 aircraft, with a further 269 on order, not including options, worth over US$128 billion in total.

In-fleet workhorses included the 777-300ER at 106 (with 46 on order) and the A380-800 at 67 (with 73 on order). Dwarfing these numbers, Emirates has outstanding orders for 35 new 777-8Xs and 115 of Boeing's 777-9Xs. It is the world's largest operator of both Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft.

On February 1, 2016, Emirates will launch service to Panama City, the longest non-stop flight in the world (at 17 hours, 35 minutes westbound) and its first gateway destination in Central America. Also in the ongoing plans are services to Bamako, Mali (scheduled to begin on October 25 and Bologna, Italy (which were set to launch November 3). As of late September, Emirates was reporting it served 147 destinations in 79 countries and territories (including 15 cargo-only services).

On September 3, alone, it celebrated delivery of four aircraft, valued at a total of US$1.5 billion; two Boeing 777-300ERs, one Boeing 777F and one A380. "The Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 are two of the most advanced, efficient, and spacious commercial aircraft in the skies today," said Clark. "They are the mainstay of the Emirates fleet, giving us versatility in our route planning, and also the ability to offer our customers the latest features and comforts onboard."

Emirates took delivery of its 150th 777 in September. It claimed that its 777 fleet had logged 4.72 million flight hours and more than 859,000 flights since the first example arrived with the Dubai-based carrier in 1996. The aircraft now serves 98 of the airline's destinations. Emirates also claimed that 400,000 U.S. jobs were supported by its 777 orders.

In early August, the airline announced a third daily service to Birmingham in the UK, bringing total non-stop daily flights to that country to 119 per week. That month, it said its eight daily flights to the UK would be served exclusively by the A380 starting in January 2016. It also announced a code-share with Bangkok Airways involving 19 Southeast Asia routes.

In July Emirates said it was "pursuing an aggressive fleet renewal program that ensures the airline operates one of the world's most modern and efficient fleets of aircraft, with an average age of less than 75 months."

It said it was taking delivery of 24 new aircraft in FY2014-15, while 26 new aircraft were due to enter service this calendar year. It also said its then fleet of 63 A380s served 34 routes and that it would launch a fourth daily A380 service to Bangkok in December.

"Our modern and efficient aircraft not only help reduce environmental impact, but also enable Emirates to offer the latest facilities and provide our customers with a better onboard experience as well as the capacity we need to grow our operation. Our investment in modern wide-body aircraft has always been the cornerstone of our strategy and success," said Adel Al Redha, executive vice-president and chief operations officer, Emirates.

Aircraft Retirements

The Emirates Aircraft Assets team consists of 35 employees. They remain tight-lipped about fleet retirements, but said in a press release that seven aircraft were phased out in 2014 and another 10 were planned for retirement this year. "This not only includes a significant amount of paperwork and administrative tasks, but also involves returning the aircraft in a similar physical condition to when it was received," it said.

Emirates recently phased out the aircraft registered as A6-EMF, the last remaining Boeing 777-200, from its fleet. The aircraft departed from Dubai International to Arizona via Boston for de-registration on July 14. Since joining the Emirates fleet in 1996, A6-EMF flew an estimated 60 million kilometers (32.4 million nautical miles).

"So far, in 2014 and 2015, we have phased out three 777-200s and eight A340-500s on schedule, which is no mean feat in itself. For the year 2015-16, we're planning a total of 10 phase-outs," says Philip Audsley, manager aircraft assets.

Cargo and Passenger Loads

Emirates is also throwing down the gauntlet on cargo. IATA said that last year it was the third-largest global airline, when ranked by total freight tonnage carried on scheduled services, with 2.3 million metric tons, after Federal Express (7.1m mt) and UPS (4.2m mt). It said, globally, cargo markets showed a 5.8 percent expansion in freight-ton kilometers (FTKs).

Emirates took delivery of its latest dedicated freighter, a Boeing 777F, on September 30, bringing the total number of in-fleet dedicated cargo aircraft to 15: two Boeing 747-400Fs and 13 Boeing 777Fs. Earlier this year, Emirates SkyCargo relocated its freighter operations hub to Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai South, where it offers 50 scheduled freighter routes from its new cargo terminal.

IATA said that Middle East airlines carried 173 million passengers last year, an increase of 10.0 percent, the largest such recorded increase in any world region. The Middle East was ranked the world's fifth busiest region, with a market share of 5.2 percent, after Asia-Pacific, ( 33.3 percent market share), Europe (26.3 percent), North America (25.3 percent) and Latin America and the Caribbean (7.7 percent).

Soccer Sponsors

Football (aka "soccer" in North America) remains important to Emirates' sports sponsorship portfolio. The airline sponsors some of the biggest tournaments and the Emirates logo is seen on the shirts of European and international clubs such as AC Milan, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Hamburger SV, Benfica SL, New York Cosmos and Arsenal - the latter in a deal which includes naming rights to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Emirates is also the official airline of Greek club Olympiacos, as well as official airline of the Asian Football Confederation.

Positive Financials

In terms of profitability, Emirates has never recorded a net loss, and saw profits increase on an annual basis from inception to 2009, when they dipped for the first time. In the year ending March 31, 2015, Emirates reported revenues of US$24.2 billion, an increase of 7.6 percent on the previous year's figure, and net profit of US$1.2 billion, up 35 percent on 2013-14.

Passengers carried increased to 49.3 million, up 10.8 percent, while passenger load factor for both years was 80.0 percent. Cargo revenues jumped from US$3.1 billion to US$3.4 billion in the same period.

Emirates' US$913 million U.S. dollar Sukuk listed on Nasdaq Dubai on April 1, 2015, bringing the total of the listed Islamic bonds on the exchange to just under US$35 billion. "This transaction set many new milestones, including being the first time that Sukuk [have] been used to finance and pre-fund the acquisition of our A380 aircraft," said Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, Emirates Airline and Group.

This followed the airline's listing of US$1 billion of U.S. dollar Sukuk on the exchange on March 20, 2013.

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