Emirates receives its first A380

Emirates achieves a milestone in its 23-year history when it receives its first A380 in Hamburg today.

Taking flight: Emirates is Airbus' largest A380 customer with 58 orders worth $18.8 billion.

ABU DHABI // After eight long years of waiting, Emirates airline will finally receive its first A380 at a ceremony at the Airbus factory in Hamburg today, ushering in a new era of Middle East aviation. Emirates has already disclosed it would provide shower facilities for first-class customers, and other secrets are expected to be revealed today among the delivery ceremony fanfare.

The arrival of the Superjumbo aircraft has been described as a "game-changing event", allowing Emirates to ratchet up its competition with European carriers on popular long-haul routes between Europe and the Pacific Rim. The A380, with its high-density, long-haul capability and low per-passenger operating costs, is one reason that Emirates has forecast a slight increase in growth in the next two years, despite record oil prices that have spurred a wave of bankruptcies and restructuring among airlines elsewhere.

While smaller European airlines have foundered this year, Emirates has thrived, raking in record profits thanks to its location, with more than two billion people living within four hours' flight time of its home base, Dubai. "I don't think of us as in the Middle East, but rather in the middle of West Asia," Maurice Flanagan, the executive vice chairman of Emirates Group, remarked recently. Ghaith al Ghaith, who spent 21 years as a senior executive for Emirates before becoming chief executive of FlyDubai, the new budget airline, in March, said: "As a local person, and personally, after working for such a long time with Emirates - it is a giant step."

Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East, became the first customer to order the A380 at the Farnborough Air Show in 2000. Since then, it has placed additional orders to bring its total to 58, which makes it Airbus's largest customer. In the coming years, Qatar Airways and Etihad will also receive the double-decker aircraft, which can carry up to 600 passengers per flight, putting further pressure on the European and Asian carriers used to dominating the Asia-to-Europe routes.

Emirates has scheduled its first commercial flight from Dubai to New York's JFK Airport on Friday, August 1, which will make the airline only the second, after Singapore Airlines, to fly the aeroplane. Singapore Airlines currently operates a fleet of five A380s and uses them on flights to Sydney, London and Tokyo. The new plane has seen strong customer demand, prompting Singapore to charge a premium of up to six per cent more per ticket for A380 flights, as opposed to its 747s on the same route.

Emirates's New York flight will offer 489 seats - 14 in first, 76 in business, and 399 in economy class. By contrast, Emirates's next highest-density aircraft is the Boeing 777, which flies with 430 seats in a two-class configuration. Forthcoming Emirates routes will feature other cabin sizes. A three-class configuration with 517 seats will be introduced soon, as well as a two-class aeroplane with 604 seats.

Emirates expects its first 15 A380s to be delivered by April 2010, although Airbus has said it faced new setbacks in production that may force it to delay delivery to some customers by several months. The aircraft are expected to be introduced on popular routes to Australia, India, and in the future, the west coast of the US. In the Indian market, for example, where Emirates has a commanding position among foreign carriers, the airlines said there were 10 potential customers for each seat it sold out of the country.

To accommodate the new aircraft, Dubai International Airport has spent a reported US$5 billion (Dh18.35bn) to outfit the new Terminal 3 with 19 gates designed for the A380. Emirates had initially planned on flying more than a dozen of the aircraft by now, but wiring problems with the plane forced Airbus to delay production by two years. Although Emirates received financial compensation from Airbus for the delay, the carrier was forced to delay opening new routes, depriving it of income.

"The A380 delivery delays did have a significant impact on our growth plans; however, we have put that behind us. Like all businesses, we have had to adjust our business plans to accommodate changes, and we did," the airline said. @Email:[e-mail]