Emirates plans to double super jumbo fleet in high-growth mission

Emirates says the A380 has allowed it to operate more efficiently.

Emirates is about to put its 50th Airbus A380 into service and plans to almost double its fleet of the super jumbo within the next three years.

While sales of the double decker plane have been sluggish to other airlines, the Dubai-based carrier says it fits its high-growth strategy.

A growth in capacity of 71 per cent since 2010 has cemented Emirates' position as world's largest international airline by passenger kilometres flown.

After the entry of its latest A380 next month, Emirates will offer on a weekly basis 5.7 billion available seat kilometres (ASKMs) to 145 destinations.

Although it has piled on capacity since 2010, including to and from New Zealand, the airline said it had been able to maintain seat load factors of close to 80 per cent.

During the four years, Emirates also added 48 cities to its global destination network.

The airline's president Sir Tim Clark said Emirates had added capacity equivalent to what some mid-sized airlines operate.

"The A380 has helped us serve customer demand on trunk routes, operate more efficiently at slot-constrained airports, and also introduce new concepts on-board."

One congested airport, London's Heathrow, said large aircraft like the A380 freed up slots at the airport by bringing more travellers in and out of the airport in one aircraft.

But other carriers have not been as keen as Emirates to sign up. Sales have been patchy with just 10 already flying the plane which entered service with Singapore Airlines in 2007.

The latest customer to get an A380 planned to display it at this week's Farnborough Air Show but delivery delays forced it to abandon the plan.

Rival planemaker Boeing's latest version of the 747, the 747-8 has also been a slow seller.