Emirates awaits 4th A380, sees delay to fifth delivery

DUBAI Dec 30 (Reuters) - Dubai's Emirates airline [EMAIR.UL], which expects to receive its fourth Airbus A380 later on Tuesday, sees a delay in the delivery of a fifth plane next year, its president said.

"It should have been by the end of March but it will now probably be mid-April," Emirates President Tim Clark told Reuters on Tuesday.

The delivery of the airline's fourth Airbus A380 will take place by year-end as planned, he said.

"It comes today. It leaves Hamburg at 1 pm ... it will probably arrive around midnight," Clark said.

Airbus, the planemaking unit of European aerospace group EADS (EAD.PA), has been racing against the clock to reach its target of a dozen deliveries in 2008 as it recovers from a series of setbacks and two years of production delays.

However Airbus warned recently it would miss its 2009 target of 21 superjumbo deliveries by a "couple" of planes.

Emirates, the biggest customer of the A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft, received the first of 58 superjumbos in July.

(Reporting by Jason Benham; editing by Amran Abocar)