Emirates working with Airbus on A380 delivery

DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai-based Emirates Airline said it is working with Airbus to ensure delivery next year of its A380 superjumbo aircraft for which it is the largest customer, though it raised concerns about industrial action.

Emirates President Tim Clark said he will travel to Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse, France, to review progress after delivery of the first of 43 A380s to Emirates was delayed almost two years to August next year.

"There is a convergence of thinking and a will to get the job done," Clark, 57, told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit in Dubai on Tuesday. Still, "if you start getting strikes, it could compromise the deliveries again," he said.

Emirates is also mulling the possibility of ordering Airbus's planned A350-XWB, or extra wide body, and Boeing Co.'s

787-10X, which the two aircraft makers are considering offering. The possible Boeing model is a larger version of its 787 "Dreamliner".

Emirates's order for the models could range between 60 and 100 aircraft. "If we go with one of those airplanes, the belief is that that is the number we could buy," Clark said.

Still, the Dubai government-owned carrier was unlikely to make any order this year, he said.

Emirates, the world's eighth-largest international air passenger carrier in 2005, operates a fleet of 102 and still has another 106 on order, including the A380, which will be the world's largest passenger aircraft when it comes into service this year.

Emirates plans to grow its fleet to 157 and double the number of destinations to about 170 during the next five years, adding cities in the United States, Africa and India. "In China, we haven't even scratched the surface yet," Clark said.

The expansion is a threat to international long-haul carriers like Qantas Airways Ltd. and Singapore Airlines as Emirates uses long-range aircraft to connect any two points in the world through one hub.

The airline will start flying to Sao Paulo this year, its first South American destination.