07-30-2008, 06:46 AM
The superjumbo, picked up at Hamburg by the Emirates CEO personally, will be the first of 60 such planes ordered by the booming airline
by Hasnain Kazim
Airbus workers adore Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum they shower him with cheers and adulate him. On the day of the delivery of the first A380 for his airline Emirates, he has just revealed that his company will order 60 more aircraft 30 medium-range A330s and another 30 long-range A350s in a deal worth close to $13 billion (8.3 billion). The Sheikh, who is unshaven and wearing a suit, white shirt, colorful tie and brown shoes, is a kind of job guarantee in human form for the Airbus workers.
"He's a cool guy," a mechanic says, as the Sheikh and Airbus CEO Thomas Enders step up to the plane after the handover ceremony. Enders, overwhelmed by the cheering crowd, raises his arms into the air and shouts: "Thank you. Thank you." Another mechanic turns to his colleague. "You don't mean him, do you?" His colleague shakes his head. "Okay, let's do a Mexican wave for the Sheikh," a young woman shouts and throws her arms into the air. Hundreds of Airbus workers, dressed in blue T-shirts, follow suit. The Sheikh waves back.
It was a day of celebration for Emirates, for the city of Hamburg and especially for the 12,000 Airbus workers employed in the city. After delivering five aircraft to Singapore Airlines from its plant in Toulouse, France, Airbus on Monday delivered its first superjumbo jet from its Hamburg, Germany plant.
There were times in recent years when one could have questioned whether a delivery at the plant was ever going to take place. But on Monday, Airbus employees proved their detractors wrong, and their appearance on the runway in front of the white jet with the Emirates livery was meant to send the message: We can do this after all. Problems with the aircraft's cabling caused by the Hamburg plant during the design stage led to the A380's considerable delays and also generated serious criticism of the German factory, which the company has internally blamed for getting the aircraft out the door late and the resulting 5 billion ($7.9 billion) in losses.
On top of that, an argument over the expansion of the plant needed to accommodate the assembly and testing of the A380 raged for years because of complaints by neighbors and environmental activists. And even today the company is still unable to mass produce the A380; the aircraft is manufactured by hand. But now, 13 years after the start of project A3XX the sun is shining at the Hamburg plant again.
Monday also provided the company with positive headlines that had become increasingly rare after the negative publicity created by Airbus's delivery problems and allegations against EADS executives over insider trading. Thomas Enders smiled broadly and said the Sheikh and Emirates' British-born President Tim Clark had supported Airbus from the start of the A380 project. As far back as the mid-1990s, Enders said, Clark had told the company not to shy away from developing its new superjumbo. The world needed it, he said at the time.
The Sheikh thanked Enders for the praise, saying his company was pleased to have been allowed to play "a small role" in the development of the A380. Still, though there was no mention on Monday of threats to cancel orders, it does not mean they have been forgotten. Clark said Emirates has already received the planes it ordered.
However, Sheikh Al-Maktoum couldn't resist making one barb against the German government. He said he hoped Emirates could also soon offer flights from Berlin and Stuttgart to Dubai. German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee has so far refused to give permission to the airline, which already flies from Frankfurt, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Munich. "Keep your fingers crossed that we will get those landing slots soon," the Sheikh said, prompting laughter from the Airbus workers.
Then, after all the talks and conviviality, the managers disappeared into the airplane to have a look at the Economy class (489 seats) in the lower deck, followed by a closer look at Business class (76 seats) and First Class (14 seats), the bar and the two shower cabins.
A few minutes later the Sheikh reappeared at the door of the plane. "Wonderful," he said. "I recently flew in it, it's wonderfully quiet." The five-hour test flight over the North Sea went without a hitch.
The ascent of Emirates has gone just as smoothly. No other company embodies the rise of Dubai as much as this carrier. The company started offering flights in 1985 with two aircraft leased from Pakistan International Airlines. Back then, the Pakistanis spoke of "development aid," and the airline industry mocked the Arbas: Dubai? What kind of desert kingdom is that?
But today Dubai is an economic powerhouse and a major center in the Arab World. And as airlines in the US axe jobs, European carriers complain about sinking passenger numbers and others fret over rising oil prices, Emirates is becoming an airline of superlatives. It has one of the youngest fleets in the world, the lowest fuel consumption per passenger and it is Airbus' biggest A380 customer, with 58 orders. In that regard, it is far ahead of Singapore Airlines. The Asian carrier, as the Sheikh quietly noted, took possession of the first A380 but has ordered only 19 of the aircraft. By comparison, German flag carrier Lufthansa has ordered only 15 of the planes.
Emirates has grown to become one of the 10 largest carriers in the world. One year ago, the emirate of Dubai in the form of its international investment arm Dubai International Capital also acquired a 3.12 percent stake in Airbus parent company EADS.
The airline industry crisis seems to have had no affect on the Arab company. And Emirates isn't the only Arab carrier with ambitious goals. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, which was only formed in 2003 and currently still makes a loss, has ordered 10 A380s and has designs on becoming the self-described "world's best airline." Meanwhile, Qatar Airways, based in the oil- and gas-rich emirate of Qatar, is also planning on expanding.
A new airport is currently being built in Dubai. It will be, of course, the world's biggest and sports the self-confident name "Dubai World Central." Up to 150 million passengers are expected to pass through the airport every year more than London's Heathrow and Germany's Frankfurt combined. The airport, with its 12 runways, will come into operation in 2009 after only two years of construction.
This speed and this megalomania worries airlines like Lufthansa. In Frankfurt, where Germany's biggest airline has its base, arguments have raged for years over the construction of a single additional runway. The company also faces other threats to its competitivenes: One key trade union representing its employees went on strike on Monday, the company's wages are already high and most of the airports it operates from in Germany have bans on late-night flights. Emirates doesn't have any of these problems.
Thanks to Dubai's copious oil reserves, it also has plenty of capital available at its disposal. European carriers are already losing customers to Arab airlines. And with Emirates recording double digit growth rates, it comes as little surprise that Lufthansa is lobbying the government hard in Berlin to reject requests by Emirates to offer more connections from German airports to Dubai.
On Tuesday, the new A380 will be flown to Dubai. Starting August 1, it is expected to begin passenger service between Dubai, New York, London, Sydney and Auckland. But it's unlikely it will see Hamburg again in the near future.