Emirates Cuts Services in the Face of Bans and Weakened Demand
Jackie Reddy April 20, 2017
But the carrier has been careful to clarify that it is cutting route frequencies to certain cities, rather than entire destinations, from its roster.
Emirates has announced that, in light of policies enacted by the Trump administration, it will be reducing its scheduled services to America as of this May. The Middle Eastern carrier says that the recent ban on carry-on electronics as well as restrictions on travelers coming from certain Muslim-majority countries has resulted in reduced passenger demand.
However, Emirates has been careful to clarify that it is cutting the frequency of flights to certain cities rather than chopping entire destinations. From the start of next month, the airline’s Fort Lauderdale-Dubai route will be cut from a daily service to operate five times a week. Emirate’s Orlando-Dubai route, which is also currently daily, will follow suit on the 23rd May.
In June, the current twice-daily service from Boston-Dubai and Seattle-Dubai will be cut to a daily service. Likewise, in July, the carrier’s LA-Dubai route will be reduced to operating on a single flight per day.
Emirates spoke of the changes in a statement to USA Today’s Today in the Sky Blog.
“This is a commercial decision in response to weakened travel demand to U.S. The recent actions taken by the U.S. government relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins, have had a direct impact on consumer interest and demand for air travel into the U.S.,” the carrier said, avoiding a direct reference to President Trump.
“Until the start of 2017, Emirates’ operations in the U.S. has seen healthy growth and performance, driven by customer demand for our high-quality product and our international flight connections. However, over the past 3 months, we have seen a significant deterioration in the booking profiles on all our U.S. routes, across all travel segments. Emirates has therefore responded as any profit-oriented enterprise would, and we will redeploy capacity to serve demand on other routes on our global network,” it added.
Finally, Emirates said that it will “will closely monitor the situation with the view to reinstate and grow our U.S. flight operations as soon as viable.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
no, chinashrek, people did not vote for this. an irresponsible man and his staff did this, not the country. by the way, the travel ban is still in courts and has been amended but will most likely never pass so keep up if you want to get all superior. so you know, muslims don't really come to the united states for tourism much besides california or florida so they can entertain the kids. since your screen name is "chinashrek", you might want to be aware that asians are the far most scrutinized travelers to the united states, not muslims(which is comparing one that is a race to one that is a religion). that is also true of australia and other western countries so slow down on the knee jerk reactions. further, a daily flight to fort lauderdale by emirates is kind of hilarious because it is one of the gayest places in the united states. clearly emirates flies there because of the cruise liner business but still....
This means less tourists coming to the USA because they are Muslim and can't get a Visa or don't want to be harassed. This means less money being spent in the USA by foreigners and more anti-American sentiment. People voted for this.
Fewer flights - > higher prices for all. Not sure why you all think that's so great.
And here I was, fully expecting them to add Jacksonville - Dubai, San Diego - Dubai, Boise - Dubai, Portland - Dubai, Helena - Dubai .... you get the idea - and hopefully my sarcasm. Can we look up their loads online? I'd love to see them.
"The recent actions taken by the U.S. government relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins, have had a direct impact on consumer interest and demand for air travel into the U.S.,” the carrier said, avoiding a direct reference to President Trump." Sorry, but I don't feel bad about this at all.