Jet industry's grand masters fight to a draw in Dubai

After insisting for 15 years that the superjumbo is the future, Emirates airline has been forced by the demise of the A380 to embrace smaller wide-body jets, resulting in a flurry of maneuvers between planemakers at this week’s Dubai Airshow. The 555-seat A380 is near the end of production, setting off a series of interlocking deals as top buyer Emirates reviews its fleet against the backdrop of fragmenting travel demand. Delays in the 406-seat Boeing 777X also weighed in the shake-up. “We have to face the reality of the cancellation of the (A380) program and the effect it has on our network, which is why we conducted a root and branch (review),” Emirates President Tim Clark said. The double-decker A380 superjumbo and the big twin-engined Boeing 777, plus mid-sized 787s and A350s, were all spread out in front of VIP chalets - the queens, bishops and knights in a game of industry chess being played out across the globe. While reducing its remaining orders for A380s, Emirates placed an expanded order at the show for 50 Airbus A350s but shelved earlier plans to order the 330-seat A330neo, an upgrade of an earlier model. It substituted part of an order for delayed 777X jets for 30 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners - 10 fewer than originally planned in a tentative 2017 order - as part of a $25 billion order shake-up. Many airlines say they can fly almost as profitably as the larger models but with less risk to the bottom line. The downside? Planes fill more quickly and passengers can flee to other carriers. Airport congestion is also a concern.<br/>