Emirates says credit crunch won't affect growth

[Pieter C. 5]

Emirates Says Credit Crunch Won't Affect Growth

 

October 6, 2008

Dubai's government-owned airline Emirates, the Middle East's largest, said on Monday the global financial crisis would not curb its expansion drive despite tighter liquidity.

 

"We have no problem in our aircraft financing," Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum told Reuters on the sidelines of a property fair in Dubai.

 

Emirates has around 58 Airbus A380s on order worth over USD$18 billion.

 

It said last month it had raised USD$265 million in an Islamic financing arrangement to pay for the lease of two new Boeing planes whose delivery brings Emirates' passenger fleet to 111.

 

(Reuters)