Airbus dismissed any concerns over the impact of the Dubai crisis on top customer Emirates on Monday, saying the airline was meeting its payments and would stick by expansion plans that call for dozens of new planes. “We have complete faith in Emirates. They are current in all their contractual commitments with Airbus and we are confident that they will remain so,” Airbus sales chief said. “We expect (Emirates chief executive) Tim Clark and his team to continue their growth strategy and we want to be part of that bright future,” he told Reuters by email. Clark told a British newspaper on Sunday that the airline, which has an estimated $55 billion of aircraft on order, had no plans to cancel plane purchases. He also said it would refinance or repay all its outstanding bonds on schedule and that its finances were on solid ground. However if market turbulence gets worse, the airline will have to “moderate” its growth, he told the Sunday Telegraph. Emirates is a major customer of both EADS subsidiary Airbus and its US rival Boeing. The Arab world's largest airline has a total of $34.8 billion worth of planes on order from Airbus based on current list prices. That includes 53 superjumbos worth $17.4 billion out of a total order of 58 of the world's largest airliner, making Emirates the planemaker's biggest customer by order value. Emirates has so far taken delivery of five A380s. Dubai's state-owned Emirates Airline said the debt crisis afflicting the sheikdom won't halt a surge in profit or threaten the carrier's independence and jetliner orders with Boeing Co and Airbus SAS. Calling the media response to the city's debt-servicing issues “hate Dubai week,” Emirates Vice Chairman Maurice Flanagan said net income in the second-half ending March 31 will surpass the $205 million posted in the first six months and should reach about $1 billion next year. “We confidently expect our second-half to be stronger than our first,” said Flanagan, who helped found the airline in 1985. Emirates, also owned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, added 22 percent more seats in the first half as most carriers reined in capacity to cope with the recession. Flanagan said in a telephone interview that Dubai's rulers are unlikely to cancel plane contracts while Emirates continues to make money and that the carrier has a detailed business plan for the expanding fleet.
