While many of the world’s major airlines struggle to fill their seats, Emirates claims it is facing a shortage of capacity, even though it has promised to add two aircraft every month to its fleet over the next 12 years. In October, the Dubai based giant will celebrate its 25^th birthday and executive vice-chairman, Sir Maurice Flanagan, has reaffirmed the company’s ambitions to continue to grow in double-digit figures.

Recent announcements at the Farnborough Air Show and in Berlin confirmed that Emirates has placed orders for 30 Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, at a list price of $9.1 billion and 32 Airbus A380s, worth $11.5 billion.

Emirates already runs a fleet of 142 passenger planes and has additional orders for a further 70 Airbus 350s, 48 Airbus 380s and 18 Boeing 777-300s as well as an order for 7 more Boeing air freighters. The value of these orders stands at around $48 billion.

Flanagan told reporters in Dubai that even with the addition of two aircraft per month, providing additional capacity of 900 seats each time, Emirates will still struggle to meet passenger demand. He said the carrier was more than capable of making a profit by serving cities like Chicago, Kiev and St Petersburg, but that it did not yet have the capacity.

Flanagan added that Australia was one destination which was also not being fully realised because the airline did not have enough aircraft and that the possibilities for the US were almost limitless as Emirates, as long as it flies via a third country, has the rights to land almost anywhere it chooses.