The competing airlines will forget how to laugh, when Sheik Achmed, Chairman of the board of the state owned Arab Emirates, rolls out his plans. By 2012 the airline is to double its fleet to 170 aircrafts, including more than 40 giant A380 aircraft.
The strategy is that in the future the United Arab Emirates, besides the production of oil, want to be an economic centre and a centre for tourism.
The Emirates sees a tourist potential of 2 billion people in Asia. In the West it hopes to receive visitors from Europe and Africa. Dubai wants to develop itself into a hub for freight traffic.
Last year the handling of cargo increased by 26 percent and reached 600,000. The airline’s profit rose by 73 percent to 429 million dollars (338 million Euro). The number of passenger increased by 23 percent to 10.4 million.

Translation by Tschoff.info | Übersetzung aus dem Deutschen von Tschoff.info
Text from "die Presse" 30.10.2004 "Scheichtum will Flotte ausbauen"