Emirates, the Dubai-based government-owned flagship airline, announced it would increase its fleet size by a minimum of 100 aircraft during the next eight years.

According to company president, Tim Clark, who revealed the ambitious plans on Thursday, the carrier hopes to reveal its newest plane orders during the July Farnborough Airshow. However, at this time, Mr Clark would give no further comment on the pending product order.

He did say, however, that even the orders revealed in Farnborough would not be the end of Emirates fleet extension, adding that the airline was looking to expand its network quickly. Mr Clark gave these statements while at the airport in Prague during a firm media event. He also added that Emirates would be needing to replace at least 68 aging planes during the next few years.

In June, Emirates announced record orders for 32 A380 superjumbo jets in a USD$11 billion order placement with Airbus. The airlines current orders with Airbus is now at 90 aircraft. Quickly becoming the Arab world’s largest airline with a steadily growing fleet, the carrier posted May earnings of AED3.5 billion dirhams (USD$953 million), a five time increase on its previous year’s profits.

According to Mr Clark, the airline is doing significantly better than a year ago. He also added that the carrier was confident it would be finishing out the year ahead of its scheduled budget. As other airlines continue to battle the waning economy, Emirates has managed to weather the economic downturn with a staggering increase in revenue.