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By Shane McGinley
Businessmen the world over will tell you that the first step to securing a deal is getting your foot in the door and making a good first impression. When it comes to contacts in Dubai, they don’t come as high profile as Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, CEO and chairman of Emirates Group, chairman of Dubai World investment arm and uncle of the emirate’s ruler.
Therefore, when officials from the U.S. city of Denver were making preparations for their mayor’s official trip to the United Arab Emirates last month, they must have been excited to learn that Sheikh Ahmed is personally familiar with their city since he studied political science at the University of Denver.
One of the key goals for the Denver delegates when they visited Dubai in October was to persuade Emirates airline to start direct flights between the two cities, but Mayor Michael B. Hancock was keen to downplay the relevance of the city’s link to the Dubai royal and instead focus on the economic benefits.
“The thing is these decisions can’t be emotional. He is a businessman and successful because he doesn’t make decisions emotionally,” the mayor told Zawya in an interview on the last day of his visit.
“We look at the business side as it is the business community who will drive the business. We have companies based in Denver that are saying we need to get to the UAE or the Middle East on a regular basis, so it would help to have a direct flight so we can be more productive.”
The biggest city in Colorado, Denver may have a relatively small population of around 600,000 but its airport is a big transport hub -- the 18th busiest airport in the world and the 6th busiest in the United States, with over 54 million passengers a year.
Hancock is hoping his presence on the trip will have helped to persuade Emirates to sign up.
“Before I come over as the mayor, typically the conversations have been going on with the airline for a number of years and it is at a point where the leadership of the airline needs to hear that the mayor is behind this effort and the business community will support it.
“We are probably three quarters of the way (through talks with the airline) and they are doing deep dives into the data. We are about a year or two away from the actual plane flying out of Denver. They just need to hear from me that this is important,” he said.
Iceland success
As an example of how flight connections can open up previously untapped markets, the mayor points to recent benefits from the start of direct flights between Denver and the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.
“I was surprised, who is going to fly to Reykjavik? But it has spurred a 4500 percent increase in travel between Denver and Europe. It is doing healthy business and has done very well. That is the thing about the airline industry, it tends to activate new travellers and tends to bring people through your city who otherwise would not have connect to that destination.”
While Denver’s diplomatic push aims at starting a route within two years, a spokesperson from the Dubai airline told Zawya it has no immediate plans to start flights between the two cities.
"Emirates has no firm plans to fly to Denver in the immediate future, but we are continuously evaluating new route possibilities. Emirates appreciates Denver's high-level official delegation visit to Dubai that was led by the Mayor of Denver and this will strengthen the relationship between City of Denver and Emirates," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The mayor’s visit to Dubai comes amid an ongoing war of words between American airlines -- including United Airlines, Delta Airlines and Continental -- and Gulf Arab carriers Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. The U.S. carriers have accused their Middle Eastern rivals of receiving around $40 billion in subsidies from their respective governments and using the funds to leverage an unfair advantage into the American market. The Gulf carriers have strongly refuted the accusations by the American airlines and claim their success in the US market is down to market dynamics and the fact their offer a far superior service to American passengers.
Denver International Airport is one of the main hubs for United, one of the world’s largest carriers.
“We have tremendous respect for our American airlines and tremendous partnerships with all of them. We have met with them about it,” Hancock said when asked if the timing of the conflict was a concern.
“The city of Denver is emerging on a global stage and we must maintain relationships with Emirates airline and we will continue to do that. We took a neutral position on the open skies issue because we believe this is an issue that will ultimately be handled appropriately by the United States of America, by the airlines and global competitors like Emirates and Etihad.”
Investment push
The mayor said he was pleased that the issue has not been a barrier for his delegation during the talks with Emirates executives: “Nothing in our conversations indicate that the current open skies conversations and conflict would serve as a barrier to Denver continuing (to launch flights to Dubai).”
“This is a global economy and in order to compete our people must be able to move around the world and my job as mayor is to make sure that those doors of opportunity are open.”
The 60-strong delegation included people from across the business community in Denver who are keen to attract investment from Dubai, the UAE and the wider region. One area ripe for a cash injection is Downtown Denver and newly designated development land close to the airport.
“We have 21 transit-orientated communities that are not developed that are ripe for investment and development. We are developing an airport city around our airport. We have the largest airport city in the country and second largest in the world (after Saudi Arabia). These are the opportunities that create investment opportunities,” he said.
The mayor was easily elected to his second term in office last year, and securing a long-term link for Denver with the Middle East is high on his agenda and a deal he would like to seal before leaving office in 2019.
© Zawya 2016
