Emirates Airline, the world's largest international carrier, seeks to expand its US service, possibly making America one of its three largest sources of revenue, a senior official said.
Tim Clark, president of the Dubai-based carrier, told Bloomberg that although the US now drives just 7 per cent of Emirates' sales, the region is "hugely important” to the carrier.
Clark, who was speaking at the World Routes Strategy Summit in Chicago, said the airline is scouting new cities to add to its network after beginning service last month in Chicago, its ninth US destination.
US airlines wary
Meanwhile, US airline executives, including Richard Anderson, chief executive of Delta Air Lines, and union leaders have been wary of Emirates.
They claim the airline unfairly benefits from subsidies by the U.A.E.. Since its mid-1980s founding the carrier has grown to a fleet of 230 widebody jets, flying 43 million people to 150 destinations each year.
Emirates, which operates the largest fleets of Boeing 777 jetliners and Airbus Group NV's A380 superjumbo jets, has orders for another 260 long-range aircraft to help its expansion
into the US, Clark said.
He dismissed critics who have suggested Emirates enjoys an unfair advantage.
"If there's any subsidy, it's because the government does the right thing,” Clark said, pointing to new spending to expand Dubai's airport infrastructure.