Emirates may switch orders to A380

Emirates may convert its orders for Airbus's slow-selling A340-600 model into orders for its double-decker A380 super-jumbo plane.

Dubai-based airline Emirates may convert its orders for Airbus's slow-selling A340-600 model into orders for its double-decker A380 super-jumbo plane, Emirates' chairman and chief executive said on Wednesday.

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Emirates, the launch customer for the A340-600 High Gross Weight (HGW), the latest version of the plane set to begin deliveries this year, has indicated that it could defer planned deliveries of the plane pending a possible upgrade.

But this was the first sign it could replace the orders altogether.

"We are actually either deferring the order to a later date or we are thinking to change for buying more of the A380s," its chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said in an interview. "We require more of the bigger aircraft."