DUBAI - Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, said on Monday it is likely to announce orders of between 50 and 100 aircraft at the Farnborough International Airshow in Britain in July.
"Etihad Airways has said for a while that it will order in the summer between 50-100 aircraft which the airline will need to deliver its flying programme up to 2020," Iain Burns, Etihad's vice president of corporate communication, said.
"The Farnborough air show is the perfect venue to make such an announcement," he added. "We’re looking to order both narrow body and wide body aircraft types."
The Farnborough show, an aviation industry gathering held every two years, runs between July 14 and 20.
Etihad is owned by the wealthy emirate of Abu Dhabi, one of the seven emirates forming the UAE federation.
By the end of 2007, Etihad was operating a fleet of 32 planes, including six Boeing jets, while Airbus accounts for the rest. It expects to take delivery of new aircraft between 2008 and 2011 to increase its fleet to 42 aircraft.
Etihad carried 1.4 million passengers during the first three months of 2008, compared to one million for the same period in 2007.
Abu Dhabi airport handled 6.9 million passengers in 2007, a 31 percent increase over the previous year, while neighbouring Dubai, the base of Emirates Airlines, handled a total of 34.34 million passengers in the same period.
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