Emirates will spend about $ 10 billion a year to fund its fleet expansion over 3 years but is not under pressure to tap the bond market, a senior official said. 

The Dubai government-owned carrier, which expects to receive about 30 aircraft a year for the next 3 years, dropped plans for a bond to finance expansion after unrest in the Middle East made rates more expensive.

“Emirates has roughly 30 aircraft a year coming the next 3 years and a lot of them are A380s... we will need about $ 10 billion a year,” Gary Chapman, President of group services and Dnata at Emirates Group, told Reuters.

Chapman said the company is sitting on considerable cash but will eventually tap debt markets to support an enormous capital expenditure program due to its expansion plans. “Any airline taking 30 aircraft a year will have considerable financial requirements,” Chapman commented.

He said the company is not under pressure to look for funding and is waiting for the right pricing. “With what’s going on in the region in February, that’s created some issues in terms of the margins. We’ll wait until our results come out and reassess the situation.”

Emirates unveils financial results for the second half of 2010 on May 10th.

Emirates, the biggest customer for the Airbus A380 superjumbo, surprised its peers by boosting its orders to 90 planes last June and said they were looking at ordering more.

Chapman said the company, which repaid a $ 500 million bond in March, will look at dirham and dollar-denominated bonds. “There is lot of liquidity out there today in dirhams... banks are flushed with dirhams. We will continue to explore that and we are looking at dollar bonds,” Chapman concluded.