Dubai-based Emirates is likely to order 100 Boeing 777s if the US plane manufacturer upgrades its design, the airline's chief Tim Clark said Thursday on the website of Arabian Business magazine.
Emirates "is likely to order 100 planes or more from Boeing if the plane manufacturer upgrades the design of the wide-body 777 with a newer model," said Clark.
"If Boeing produced the airplane that we want, I can see easily that figure, bearing in mind that we've ordered 175 of them," he told the magazine.
"If it's as good as we hope it'll be, it's a natural thing to say 'yes we would probably roll over what we have to what they're offering with the new aircraft'," he said.
Based on current list prices, such an order would be worth more than $36 billion, according to Arabian Business.
Emirates, one of the world's fastest growing carriers, last year ordered 50 long-range Boeing 777-300 ER jets worth a combined $18 billion dollars at the Dubai Airshow.
It has a fleet of more than 180 aircraft serving 120 destinations in more than 70 countries, and an order book of more than 200 planes, including 73 Airbus A380 superjumbos and 70 Airbus A350s.
The carrier is the largest single customer of the European manufacturer's long-haul A380 and has the world's largest fleet of Boeing 777s, with 150 already delivered or on order.