Emirates is set to ask the Australian civil aviation administration for permission to increase the number of weekly flights from Dubai to Australian destinations.The Dubai-based airline currently operates 46 weekly flights from Dubai to Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
According to the airline, its existing capacity will be used up in September this year when its Perth services go twice-daily and its flights to Australia per week rise to 49.
A report carried by The Australian said that senior Emirates executives are expected to formally lodge a request to Canberra for extra flights from Dubai to Australian destinations within the next two months.
However, Emirates has not yet taken a call on how many extra flights it would be asking for, a company spokesperson told Emirates Today.
The move comes close on the heels of Qantas Airways and Air New Zealand both posing serious competition to the Dubaibased carrier, which the airlines claim is eating into their market shares.
While Emirates has expressed interest in doubling its capacity into Australia, Qantas has reportedly warned that it will lobby to prevent such a request being granted.
Emirates Senior Vice-president of Commercial Operations for East Asia and Australasia, Richard Vaughan, was quoted by the newspaper recently saying that he will travel to Australia with Emirates President Tim Clark to seek an indication from the government on its willingness to grant additional rights.
The report also states that Emirates has denied allegations by Air New Zealand and Qantas that it is dumping capacity on the Trans-Tasman route.The TransTasman route is said to be one of the most competitive in the world, with eight airlines competing in the space. According to Vaughan, the airline had still not decided whether to use A380s on the Trans-Tasman route.
"Emirates is always committed to the markets it serves and the airline helps catalyse their trade with the rest of the world and traffic into these destinations. Statistics have clearly shown that our services on the Trans-Tasman route in 20032004 alone have expanded the market by nearly 20 per cent, and we are definitely there for the long-haul," Emirates' spokesperson told Emirates Today.
"Emirates has a sound business case for flying to Australia. In the last decade, Emirates has welcomed over two-and-a-half million passengers on its Australian flights. Total passengers travelling to Australia have almost quadrupled since 1996.
"Dubai is one of the most important Gulf regional headquarters for Australian businesses and more than 100 Australian companies are operating here," said the spokesperson.
Meanwhile, with plans for using its new twice-daily services to Perth to promote travel between the Western capital and the US, Emirates will add another three flights to Perth in September to bring the service to double daily, as reported by the Australian newspaper.
"By the end of the year, we will have three services a day to New York from Dubai," Vaughan was reported saying.
Focus on the Middle East
Emirates will focus its presence on the Middle East this year according to the airline. Following the Kuwait Government's decision to open up its skies, Emirates will introduce live five additional flights per week to the staring July 1. The airline had already boosted its Kuwaiti operations by adding two weekly flights on the route in March. The airlines also added one flight to Amman to serve the city 10 times a week. Emirates said it will also introduce a sixth weekly service to Jeddah and Riyadh from May 1.
By Shweta Jain
© Emirates Today 2006
