Emirates reveals shake-up for MidEast senior staff

Emirates Airline on Tuesday announced several new senior appointments across the Middle East.

New country managers have been appointed for the Dubai-based carrier's operations in Iraq, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Sharjah and the Northern Emirates.

“These moves reflect our commitment to offering our staff the opportunity to grow and experience new challenges. Market dynamics vary in every one of our destinations creating a unique and challenging working environment,” said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates senior vice president Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran.

Emirates’ operations in the Middle East market continued to grow in the 2010-11 financial year with the region witnessing a 14.2% increase in revenue.

From Dubai, Emirates has a total of 203 flights per week into 14 Middle East destinations in 11 countries.

Emirates is expected to place orders for a significant number of aircraft, including 30 A380s and additional Boeing 777s at the Dubai Airshow next month, aviation analysts said earlier on Tuesday.

The largest international carrier has around 199 planes on order, scheduled for delivery through to 2019, but is likely to unveil new orders to support its rapid route expansion and in preparation for the delayed delivery of the Airbus A350.

State-backed Emirates is among the world’s largest buyers of new aircraft. The carrier counts 90 Airbus A380s worth $34bn at list price among its outstanding orders, and said in July it plans to spend around $4 billion annually over the next three to four years.

With about a hundred 777s in the Emirates fleet now and about 40 still to come, the carrier is also the model’s biggest airline customer.