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Dubai-based Emirates had a delegation at the Airbus delivery center in Hamburg today to pick up their first A380, and as the picture shows, it's a beauty. But this delivery is more than just a splashy media event and a new set of new photos for airline geeks to drool over. It highlights a seismic shift in the balance of power within the airline industry.
Singapore Airlines got the first two A380s, which it outfitted with enclosed luxury suites and flies on its high-volume Singapore-London and Singapore-Sydney routes. Delivery to a second airline is a milestone for both Airbus and Emirates.
Emirates will deploy the first of its 60 A380s on its Dubai to JFK route and is using the 489-seater to pull out all the stops for its first class passengers. In addition to sleeping suites and a bar, the airline offers in-flight showers, which seems to contradict Emirate's promise to save fuel by cutting the weight of its planes.
But that's just more evidence of how the airline industry is changing. While U.S. carriers struggle through some of the toughest times they've faced and beg Uncle Sam for help, Middle
East carriers - some owned by governments drunk on oil money - are expanding like mad.
Take a look at a couple of airline order books and this becomes clear. Emirates has a staggering 60 A380s on order, each with a base price of $320 million. Each will carry 489 passengers, which means nearly
30,000 new seats - and that doesn't even take into account the 130 plus other planes Emirates has on order, most of them widebodies.
By way of comparison, American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, has 52
737-800 narrowbodies on order. Delta is waiting on 46 new planes. According to the Wall Street Journal, United Airlines has no planes on order at all, a fact that it sometimes seems weirdly proud of.
It's tough to compete with airlines that are being at least partially government subsidized, and that is what the U.S. industry finds itself dealing with. Some experts say Emirates will be the world's largest airline within 15 years. They may be right.
Photo by Emirates.
