"I think more and more Dubai companies will see that this is important in the near future. The DP World IPO is a very positive thing. I think for sure Emirates will, also in the future, do something like that," Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum told The Times of London.
The IPO could value the carrier at up to $20 billion, the newspaper said.
But a decision to sell a stake in the fastest growing airline in the Middle East "rests in the hands of our owners, the government of Dubai," Emirates spokesman Boutros Boutros said by telephone.
He said he could not comment on the figure reported by the newspaper as a value for the company.
Last week, government-owned Dubai World said it will float a 20-percent stake in its subsidiary port operator DP World, one of the world's largest container-port operators, in its first-ever IPO.
Emirates has placed orders worth billions of dollars for new aircraft to reinforce its young fleet that already has about 110 planes.
It is the biggest customer of Airbus A380 superjumbos with an order for 55 aircraft, and is also expected to buy 100 of Airbus's A350 XWB (Extra Wide Body).
© 2007 Agence France-Presse
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