Emirates Says $1.13bn Funding For Six A380s In Place

FUNDING BOOST: Emirates president Tim Clark has said that $1.13bn is in place to fund six new A380 deliveries.Emirates Airline on Thursday announced that it will receive two new A380 aircraft by the end of December, adding that funding for them was not a problem and the company remained in a "secure financial position" despite the global crisis.

The Dubai-based carrier will receive the first A380 early next week, with a second arriving in late December and the remaining four A380s due for handover in 2010.

These six aircraft will form part of the 53 Airbus A380 aircraft that Emirates currently has on firm order, the company said.

Tim Clark, president, Emirates Airline said: “Emirates remains in a secure financial position despite the global financial crisis. We have never encountered difficulties in obtaining finance for our aircraft acquisition programme, with both international and regional banks comfortable with our financial stability."

He added: “As one of the world’s most profitable airlines, Emirates has always honoured its financial commitments and we continue to progress with our rigorous fleet and network expansion plans.”

The company said financing for the six aircraft - worth $1.13bn - was arranged and funded under two separate finance agreements.

The first agreement, covering three A380 aircraft, has been undertaken with Citibank, backed by a guarantee from the European Export Credit Agencies (ECAs). A second financing agreement has been arranged through Doric Asset Finance and covers the remaining three A380 aircraft, Emirates added in a statement.

The delivery of the A380 aircraft early next week will bring Emirates’ A380 fleet to six with the aircraft due for deployment on the Seoul, Korea route from December 14.

Later this month Emirates will receive its seventh A380, scheduled to service the Dubai–Paris route three times per week from December 29, becoming daily from January 17, 2010.

Emirates operates an all-wide bodied fleet of 141 aircraft to 101 destinations in 62 countries.

Flydubai’s Sixth Aircraft Arrives On Schedule

DUBAI — Flydubai took delivery of its sixth aircraft in a little over six months. The newest Boeing 737-800NG will begin service with the inaugural Bahrain flight on Sunday, December 13 and will also operate the new Kathmandu route starting on December 15 - flydubai’s tenth and eleventh destinations. flydubai’s next aircraft is due in March 2010.

The aircraft is the sixth one to be delivered on schedule and is part of the historic $4 billion order for 50 aircraft that flydubai placed with Boeing at the Farnborough Airshow in July last year.

Judge Orders BA Cabin Crew To Stay On The Job

A British judge has given a reprieve to hundreds of thousands of airline passengers facing Christmas travel chaos due to a planned strike by British Airways cabin staff. The strike call has been declared illegal in a High Court ruling after the judge agreed with BA that the cabin crew's union, Unite, had not correctly balloted its members on the industrial action.

The injunction means the 12-day strike, in protest over job losses and a pay freeze, cannot now go ahead.

The decision stalls any strike action for several weeks and would need a fresh ballot to proceed.

Union bosses, angered by a decision they called "a disgraceful day for democracy" vowed to hold a fresh ballot of cabin crew if the dispute with BA was not resolved.

The judge in the case, Mrs Justice Cox, questioned the timing of the planned strike.

"A strike of this kind over the 12 days of Christmas is fundamentally more damaging to BA and the wider public than a strike taking place at almost any other time of the year," she said.

In a statement, BA said, "In recent days, we believe Unite has formed a better understanding of our position and of the ways in which we could move forward.

"It has also become very clear that our customers do not believe that old-style trade union militancy is relevant to our efforts to move British Airways back toward profitability."

The union warned the dispute was "far from settled".