DUBAI (Reuters) -- Dubai-based Emirates, the largest customer for Airbus’s A380 superjumbo, said it may order up to 15 more of the planes to meet surging passenger demand through its Persian Gulf hub from Europe and Asia.

The government-owned carrier, which already has 43 of the world’s largest passenger planes on order, has had a “dialogue” with Airbus about buying more, the airline’s President Tim Clark told Reuters on Thursday. “We see more of these aircraft coming into the company,” Clark said in Dubai. “We are looking at anywhere between 10 and 15.”

Passenger demand from Europe, Africa, Australia, and East Asia is growing, Clark said on the day the 22-year-old carrier announced its annual financial results.

“China has come in very strong and Africa routes are strong, and outperforming,” Clark said.

Emirates plans to add flights to Beijing and Shanghai, and start flying to Venice, Houston, and Sao Paulo this fiscal year, its first to South America, Clark said. The carrier flies to about 85 destinations as far apart as New York and Sydney with a fleet of 102 planes.

Clark said it was unlikely Emirates would order the additional A380s this year as the company is still studying its needs to 2020. The study will be finished in the next few months, Clark said, without being more specific.

The airline’s 2001 order for 43 A380s for delivery in 2006 was delayed by almost two years to August 2008 because of technical problems at Airbus.

Emirates will agree on a compensation deal with Airbus for the delay next week, Clark said, declining to give details.

Earlier on Thursday, the President of the Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman of Emirates Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told reporters he may order a “small number” of A380s as early as this year.

“We have faith in Airbus,” he said, adding that he did not expect further delivery delays.

The airline is “thinking” about starting a low-cost carrier and could use the A380 for the fleet, Emirates Vice Chairman Maurice Flanagan told reporters. “We are thinking a bit about it,” Flanagan said. “It’s something for the next few years. The A380 could be a very good aircraft for that.”

Second-half profit at Emirates, the world’s eighth-largest international passenger carrier, surged 20 percent after it carried more passengers and cargo, Shaikh Ahmed told reporters.

Net income in the six months to March 31 rose to 1.9 billion dirhams ($517.4 million), compared with 1.58 billion dirhams in the year-earlier period, Reuters calculated, based on full-year data. The company made 3.1 billion dirhams in the year.

The number of passengers the airline carried surged about 40 percent to 10.5 million, compared with 7.52 million in the year-earlier period. It carried 17.5 million passengers in the year. Seat-factor was 76.2 percent.

Cargo carried rose 16.3 percent to 623,000 tons. It carried 1.2 million tons in the year.

Sheikh Ahmed said he expected profit this fiscal year to rise 10 percent.

Emirates has about 106 aircraft on order. It plans to boost its fleet to 157 and double the number of destinations to about 170 during the next five years, adding cities in the United States, Africa, and India.