FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Emirates, the United Arab Emirates airline, does not need an initial public offering to finance its current 60 bln eur expansion plans, chief executive Tim Clark told Financial Times Deutschland in an interview.

Sheikh Ahmad Bin Said Al Maktoum, head of the state-owned airline's supervisory board, said in an interview in the autumn a 25 pct stake in Emirates could be floated off in an IPO in 2009.

Under a 60 bln eur capex programme, the airline has ordered 242 passenger jets to be delivered over the coming years to expand its fleet and partially renew its existing 171 jets.

Clark said the airline can carry out this programme without it an IPO and is not actively preparing for it. But he acknowledged the "prevailing mood" in the government is in favour of an IPO.

Meanwhile, Clark said he is disappointed by the German Transport Ministry's ruling last week not to allocate landing slots to the airline at Berlin until 2011 and at Stuttgart until 2016. It currently serves Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Dusseldorf.

He ruled out acquiring a European airline to get landing rights.

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