Alan Peaford/DUBAI
Emirates Airline is to broaden its fleet with the acquisition of narrow-bodied aircraft to meet a growing demand for regional transport.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Emirates and president of the Department of Civil Aviation, says he will be talking to both Boeing and Airbus about their aircraft. He rules out meeting regional jet manufacturers as he is setting a minimum passenger size of 120.
"We had planned to just have two types of aircraft but that is impossible now," Sheikh Ahmed says. "We are currently flying Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s. But that makes the 330 our smallest aircraft."
Go-ahead
With the go-ahead for the lucrative Dubai-Bahrain route confirmed - "after 15 years of discussions," says Sheikh Ahmed - Dubai's role as a regional hub for long-haul international routing is expected to grow quickly. Sheikh Ahmed says he hopes Emirates will have the aircraft - Airbus 320 or Boeing 737s - within 18 months.
He also announced that Emirates is to get a fourth Boeing 777-300 which will be delivered in 2003. The aircraft will be leased.
Emirates' plans are ambitious. The airline is doubling in size every three and a half years and reported net profits of $101 million last year. "We hope that the profits will stay at the same level this year but the increase in fuel costs don't make that easy," Sheikh Ahmed says.
But Emirates has announced new routing to Entebbe and has plans to stretch to the West African coast.
Flights to Sydney begin in March and plans are progressing to fly direct to the USA east and west coasts when the four Airbus 340-500s ordered are delivered at the end of 2002.
The Emirates chairman confirms that the airline is studying the options of joining an alliance despite having turned away suitors in the past. He says alliances could be damaging for the passenger and could put the airlines in monopoly positions on some routings.
"We are still not convinced it is a good idea," Sheikh Ahmed says. One barrier to Emirates aligning with other airlines has been its lack of a loyalty/frequent flyer scheme but the Emirates programme will launch in April - "and we will make our decision about alliances by that time," he adds.
Responding to rumours in the local press that Emirates could consider merging with other Gulf carriers such as Gulf Air and Qatar Air, Sheikh Ahmed says: "It is unlikely but not impossible. If we were to have a GCC airline created for political reasons it would be a failure.
"If it were created for good solid commercial reasons then it would work. But it would be a very hard job for the CEO or chairman - I hope it will not happen in my time."
Dubai's open skies policy already means that other carriers can use Dubai's international airport and Sheikh Ahmed predicts further dynamic growth. He shrugs off reports that Bahrain was set to challenge Dubai as the region's hub and points to more than $1 billion of investment in the transportation infrastructure in the Emirate.
Sheikh Ahmed says a third terminal would be built at the international airport as soon as work was completed on Terminal 2. There is still room for expansion on the new terminal which would increase the apron capacity to 64 aircraft.
This development would allow the airport to handle up to 45 million passengers - four times greater than today - but Sheikh Ahmed believes that would not be enough.
"We have plans already for a new airport - a second international airport close to Jebel Ali and the new IT City - which will open in 2018," Sheikh Ahmed says. The airport will then ease congestion.
With increased numbers of tourists Sheikh Ahmed says Emirates had looked at the Airbus 3XX concept. "We think that the aircraft needs to have a bigger belly for more cargo," he said, "Fifteen percent of our business is cargo and with more than 500 passengers on board we would need more space to maintain our cargo revenues."
As well as cargo growth the Emirates group, with subsidiaries such as Dnata, is continuing to expand internationally with projects in Pakistan, the Philippines and Lebanon.
Responding to rumours that the company had been talking to Iraq about managing Basra airport, he says: "We have made visits to Iraq but while the UN sanctions are in place we can do nothing."
Source: Flight Daily News
