Emirates and Airbus : A marriage made in heaven

Workers celebrate the completion of an Airbus A380

The A380 double-decker superjumbo is the world's largest commercial aircraft.  It can carry more than 800 passengers.

Amid fears that production of the aircraft was about to be mothballed by Airbus, it was announced that Emirates has ordered 20 more with an option to take a further 16.  This deal is notionally worth up to $16 billion.

Before the latest Emirates order, there were orders for just 317 of the $440 million jetliners, 142 of them from the Dubai flag carrier.

With more than two thirds delivered, outstanding orders had left just 100 more to be made and Airbus made contingency plans to phase out production.

Emirates is already waiting for delivery of another 41 A380s.  The head salesman at Airbus, John Leahy, said the latest order puts another decade on the manufacturing programme for the aircraft. “Emirates is committing to the programme for the long term and plans to take six airplanes a year for nine-ten years,” he said.

A spokesman for the company said: “The aircraft is in a class of its own with no competitor coming close, especially when it comes to comfort.”