[rferguson]

Still made $214m which is hardly something to sniff about.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/emirates-net-profit-plummets-75-in-first-half–652179.html

Says the drop is due to economic uncertainty, subdued travel demand and ‘..unfavourable currency environment and increased competition resulting in lower average fares’.

Of the Emirates Group it seems DNATA is seeing the best growth and performance.

It’s interesting reading on the main news page of BT that EK now has a fleet comprising exclusively of 777’s and A380’s. That is a LOT of seats to fill. Especially on some of the routes they operate. I wonder if they would be better following the likes of EY and QR which also have a narrowbody type for thinner routes.

In the meantime lets see if the rumours about DXB – Buffalo and Phoenix materialise!

[LuganoPirate]

I think another factor is the falling price of fuel, which will benefit non ME3 carriers more than it does EK. As a result they can better compete and offer some very competitive fares.

[rferguson]

There are so few airlines that operate both long and short haul routes with a total wide body fleet. I know SQ and CX only operate wide bodies but they also offload a lot of the thinner leisure oriented routes to subsidiary companies like Silk Air or Cathay Dragon which use narrow bodies.

I can understand the economic benefits of having less different types of aircraft in a fleet but when your smallest aircraft is a 777 that’s a LOT of fixed investment. The aircraft itself, the fixed crew costs (a minimum of 12 in EK’s case where as an A320 could fly with four), longer turnaround times. Not to mention the sheer number of seats that they have to fill – at a price that is profitable.

I mean who am I to question their choices i’m sure they know what they are doing, they have certainly made a success out of it. But I wonder if the time will come when it does change it’s modus operandi with more variable capacity options.

[AMcWhirter]

rferguson – Having such large aircraft is not good for EK’s flexibility.

However Flydubai is Dubai’s answer for developing air service to destinations which are closer to home. But having said that I see Flydubai is now serving some European points now.

[Panda01]

Maybe Emirates believes it can attract enough customers to fill a 777 on short haul.

I would suggest they get some a321lr’s for short to medium haul, but they probably want wide bodies so I say 787-8 because it is the smallest one available and they can still order the -10 and not have two new different aircraft.

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=773837]Maybe Emirates believes it can attract enough customers to fill a 777 on short haul.

I would suggest they get some a321lr’s for short to medium haul, but they probably want wide bodies so I say 787-8 because it is the smallest one available and they can still order the -10 and not have two new different aircraft.

[/quote]

It does fill wide bodies on short haul. I came back from Kuwait 3 weeks ago and they had an A380 with every seat full.

This is routinely the case on routes like Kuwait and Saudi.

In respect of your advice, I’m sure they would already have considered it.

[MrMichael]

Something I have long said is that more airlines should use widebodies for short haul. If you take a route such as London/Amsterdam there must be something like 50 flights a day between the various London airports and AMS. If BA and KLM were to change from using 737’s and A320 family to 777 or A380 they could cut the number of flights and costs considerably and free up slots for other routes at the congested LHR/LGW. Another poster said an “alliance” could be started, top deck of an A380 BA bottom deck Easyjet….or was it EZY on top! Maybe Emirates does have it right, less flights but probably the same overall capacity.

[Defcon5]

Emirates have to sell circa 10,000 seats a day from the UK, it is an unprecedented amount considering the fact they only had a handful of rotations 10 years ago. When you combine the Qatar and Etihad operations too there is far too much traffic going eastbound for it to be sustainable at the right yield. Having worked with Emirates commercially I know their goal is to get a better yield on flights from the UK however, simple economics will tell you that if you increase supply and demand stays static or falls, you are going to have to offer cheaper airfares to win the passengers.

It will be interesting to see the strategy of the ME3 moving forward, the last 20 years has seen develop into 3 large airlines and when you are growing, things are easy. As the environment becomes tougher will they change their tactics?

[JCoathup]

[quote quote=773864]Something I have long said is that more airlines should use widebodies for short haul. If you take a route such as London/Amsterdam there must be something like 50 flights a day between the various London airports and AMS. If BA and KLM were to change from using 737’s and A320 family to 777 or A380 they could cut the number of flights and costs considerably and free up slots for other routes at the congested LHR/LGW. Another poster said an “alliance” could be started, top deck of an A380 BA bottom deck Easyjet….or was it EZY on top! Maybe Emirates does have it right, less flights but probably the same overall capacity.

[/quote]

In principle that works, but often what airlines want on short haul flights is frequency over capacity. Its the same reason why BA don’t put the A380 on their New York flights.

[AMcWhirter]

Emirates will be ordering “smaller” wide-bodied aircraft in the near future. These will either be A350s or B787s.

As noted above it is Flydubai which develops those short to medium-haul routes which EK would be unable to sustain. And even longer routes between Dubai and certain European points.

Having a fleet of large B777-300ERs and A380s is not a flexible solution. But, having said that, EK did start BLQ last year using B777-300ER equipment and this was the largest commercial aircraft this airport had ever seen.

[Flightlevel]

McMichael and EK are the way ahead for airlines, there will soon be less slots available at all big hubs, larger aircraft are the answer (only Business class require more frequency). A benefit is lower seat mile costs and therefore lower fares to compete.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=773904]Emirates have to sell circa 10,000 seats a day from the UK, it is an unprecedented amount considering the fact they only had a handful of rotations 10 years ago. When you combine the Qatar and Etihad operations too there is far too much traffic going eastbound for it to be sustainable at the right yield. Having worked with Emirates commercially I know their goal is to get a better yield on flights from the UK however, simple economics will tell you that if you increase supply and demand stays static or falls, you are going to have to offer cheaper airfares to win the passengers.

It will be interesting to see the strategy of the ME3 moving forward, the last 20 years has seen develop into 3 large airlines and when you are growing, things are easy. As the environment becomes tougher will they change their tactics?

[/quote]

Great post. I perceive the EK strategy is to be the dominant player on any route it operates.

Time will tell if this is realistic.

[Swissdiver]

Add to the numbers the fact their business class service is fading (see reviews on https://www.businesstraveller.com/forums/topic/no-more-seatplans-review-here-here-are-a-couple-about-ek-fading-business-class/). For the customer what is left flying EK? Certainly not their mileage program (not quite generous and no matching with one of the big alliances) nor their lounges.

The three ME airlines have each a different strategy (QR with One World, EY buying participations in European airlines and EK trying to play bold with overcapacity to push competitors out). Well it seems the latter doesn’t work so well after all.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=774216]Add to the numbers the fact their business class service is fading (see reviews on https://www.businesstraveller.com/forums/topic/no-more-seatplans-review-here-here-are-a-couple-about-ek-fading-business-class/). For the customer what is left flying EK? Certainly not their mileage program (not quite generous and no matching with one of the big alliances) nor their lounges.

The three ME airlines have each a different strategy (QR with One World, EY buying participations in European airlines and EK trying to play bold with overcapacity to push competitors out). Well it seems the latter doesn’t work so well after all.

[/quote]

It would be wise to see what other airlines returns are, before judging Emirates.

I fear it will be a long, hard, winter for some.

[Swissdiver]

FDOS, I’ve written EK’s strategy doesn’t work so well, but didn’t take position on the two others’, who don’t have a Dnata to compensate.

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