Emirates is clearly upset after Airbus publicly announced it might discontinue the A380 superjumbo, the world’s largest airliner project.
Tim Clark, president of Emirates airline said, “I am not particularly happy as you can imagine.”
Airbus Finance Director Harald Wilhelm told analysts on Wednesday the company would be able to break even on the A380 through 2018 “if we would do something on the product, or even if we would discontinue the product”.
Clark expressed interest in upgrading Emirates’ entire fleet of 140 A380s should Airbus decide to update the current A380 with brand new Rolls-Royce engines, greatly improving fuel efficiency.
It remains to be seen how this will all play out but reports are that Emirates is looking at potentially buying 50-70 mid-sized Boeing or Airbus wide-body jets.
