AFP, PARIS: A $16 billion deal with Emirates airline for A380 superjumbos will give Airbus “at least 10 years of visibility”, the European manufacturer’s CEO Tom Enders said in an interview published yesterday.

Emirates announced the deal on Thursday to buy 36 Airbus A380s - just days after the group said it would have to halt production without new orders.

The deal is “excellent news” and “a sign of confidence on the part of a company that has built its strategy on growth around the plane”, Enders told France’s Journal du Dimanche newspaper.