Delta Eliminates Daily Service to Dubai, Blames Gulf Carriers
Joe Cortez August 11, 2015
Delta blames Gulf carriers for its decision to reduce service from Atlanta to Dubai.
Delta Air Lines is reducing service to Dubai this winter and says the “Middle East Three” carriers are to blame. Starting October 1, the legacy airline will only operate four or five nonstop flights from its main hub of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Dubai International Airport (DXB) per week.
Delta began flying its ATL-DXB route in 2007 and has offered daily service between the two airports since 2008. According to Delta, exponential growth among the ME3 — Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways — has forced them to reduce the number of flights to Dubai, noting an overall drop in capacity throughout the Middle East and Africa.
“The reduction comes amid overcapacity on U.S. routes to the Middle East operated by government-owned and subsidized airlines,” Delta spokesperson Trebor Banstetter told Reuters. Under the reduction, Delta will operate no more than five flights to DXB per week throughout the winter, but will resume daily service in spring of 2016.
The reduction in service is the latest move by Delta in the ongoing Open Skies situation. Delta, along with fellow legacy carriers American Airlines and United Airlines, claim the ME3 received over $42 billion in illegal subsidies, allegedly allowing the carriers to grow quickly and exploit Open Skies agreements between the Gulf governments and the U.S. The ME3 have repeatedly spoken out against the claims.
With the reduction in service, United will be the only legacy airline operating daily nonstop service between the U.S. and DXB this winter. Emirates operates direct flights from nine American cities to DXB, while Etihad and Qatar Airways flies direct from their hubs at Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) and Doha International Airport (DOH), respectively.
[Photo: Delta Air Lines]
EK has connecting traffic to support its hub at DXB. DL does not have any partners operating ex-DXB to points beyond DXB. Those wishing to fly DL to points in other points in Southwest Asia or to points in South Asia connect onto partners at AMS, LHR, CDG, FCO, SVO & Etc.
Why would anyone want to fly on decrepit planes with even more decrepit staff? They are losing out because 'Customer Service' is a complete oxymoron to themselves. Good luck to E3.
Why do the US airlines blame the ME3 for everything? Is it possible that DL is losing the competition on this route, or the demand to DXB just isn't there for 2 US-based carriers + Emirates to serve this route daily? While I'm sure more people would fly DL if Emirates didn't serve as many US destinations as they do, how many people flying this route on all carriers are actually terminating in DXB. My guess is not a ton. A lot of the Emirates pax are continuing onward - to destinations that DL or US carriers don't serve at all - for example, smaller (and bigger) cities in India, places in Pakistan, other Middle East cities, etc. So DL isn't able to continue the route daily? Great - rather than complaining, why not simply take the aircraft and use it on a more profitable route?
When I whine about the legacy carriers service and equipment nothing changes so why should we care about their whining.
Lastest load factors are running about 80% so DL that looks pretty good to me