Emirates orders 41 new Airbus jets in $12.5 billion deal LE BOURGET, France (AP) =97 The fast-growing Gulf airline Emirates announced= =20 Monday a $12.5 billion order for 41 airliners from European airplane maker= =20 Airbus, in what executives called the largest order ever for wide-body jets. The deal, announced at the Paris Air Show in suburban Le Bourget, includes= =20 an order for 21 A380 superjumbo jets, offering the latest vote of=20 confidence for the planned 555-seat behemoth. Separately, Emirates=20 announced operating lease orders for 26 777-300ER planes from Airbus rival= =20 Boeing. The jets will belong to two U.S.-based companies: 14 owned by GE=20 Capital Aviation Services and 12 by leasing firm International Lease=20 Finance Corp. (ILFC). However, only four of those planes are new orders. Emirates has been one of the few bright spots in an aviation industry=20 ravaged by the effects of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States,= =20 a global economic slowdown, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the outbreak=20 of severe acute respiratory syndrome. In the Airbus deal, Emirates also=20 agreed to buy 20 A340 aircraft =97 including 18 A340-600s, currently the=20 largest plane in the Airbus fleet. British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce= =20 said Emirates had agreed to buy its Trent 500 engines to power the A340s,=20 in a deal valued at $900 million. Including previous orders, Emirates now=20 plans to purchase a total of 43 A380s =97 by far the largest of any airline= =20 customer. It also expects to lease another two from ILFC. Emirates chairman= =20 Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum acknowledged that the orders for A380s=20 amounted to a "big number" but said the carrier has had trouble obtaining=20 landing spots at airports =97 and the larger plane could help solve that.=20 "We'll have increased capacity with the same number of flights," he told=20 reporters. Noel Forgeard, chief executive of Airbus, said Monday's announcement=20 amounted to the largest order ever for wide-body planes in terms of number= =20 and dollar value. "This will be our big order of the show," John Leahy,=20 head of Airbus' commercial aircraft division, told The Associated Press on= =20 the sidelines of a news conference at the 8-day event. "Emirates is one of= =20 the growth airlines of the world, and we expect to grow together," he=20 added. Airbus has received a total of 116 firm orders from eight customers= =20 for the A380, which is to enter service in 2006. The plane is Airbus'=20 proposed alternative to Boeing's 747, currently the largest plane in=20 passenger service. In a statement, the company said it has eight other=20 "commitments" from Asian airlines Malaysia and Qatar Airways. Airbus=20 previously said it needed to build and deliver some 250 A380s to break even= =20 on the new aircraft =97 putting it nearer to the halfway mark of that goal,= =20 even though none is in service yet. Chicago-based Boeing has been setting=20 its sights on a mid-sized, fuel-efficient 7E7 aircraft, which is expected=20 to enter service in 2008. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.carib-link.net/naparima/naps.html TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************