Dubai’s Emirates airline mulls foreign buys

Monday, 23 April 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Dubai’s Emirates airline is studying new opportunities to buy foreign carriers if they fit the emirate’s strategy, the state news agency quoted the chairman of the fast-growing carrier as saying last week.

“Now there are studies for various opportunities to acquire international carriers... if they fit the Dubai business model,”

UAE news agency WAM cited the airline’s chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum as saying.

“Anything to do with aviation and our business, if it is at the right price, we are always interested,” Sheikh Ahmed said at an aerospace conference in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

But the Dubai government-owned carrier was not in talks with any Indian airline at the moment, he said. India’s cabinet is expected to make a decision on whether to allow foreign airlines to buy stakes in local carriers this week.

Emirates is the world’s largest customer of the Airbus A380 super jumbo. It ordered 90 A380 aircraft in 2010, with about 70 yet to be delivered.