DELLAS

Good news for Greece-USA links. I have heard that they will link with A3 and offer through Domestic fares which should be popular.


Dubai’s Emirates to launch daily Newark flights via Athens

Dubai carrier Emirates has announced the launch of a new fifth freedom route to Newark Liberty International Airport near New York via Athens.

The airline said the service is being introduced following an approach from the Greek government and Athens International Airport.

Flights will begin on March 12.

A year-round non-stop daily service between the US and Greece has not operated since 2012, according to the airline.

“After careful review, Emirates concluded that extending one of our Dubai-Athens flights to Newark would be commercially and operationally feasible,” said Emirates president Sir Tim Clark.

“We are pleased to be able to help meet a strong consumer need long neglected by other airlines, and we would like to thank the authorities and our partners in both the US and Greece for their support of the new route.”

The route will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER with eight first class, 42 business class and 304 economy class seats, as well as 19 tonnes of cargo capacity.

http://gulfbusiness.com/dubais-emira...ts-via-athens/

irishguy28

Big news!

EK have been looking at new fifth freedom routes for a while and ATH certainly makes sense.

However, with the Trump administration taking the reins today after having the weekend off to party, I'm not sure how much traction such moves will gain...

djjaguar64

Oh, not so good news. A3 needs to get its act together and start some transatlantic flights.

djjaguar64

Trump has properties in the middle east including Dubai and even a golf course. Nothing is going to happen to this deal(EK's flights will go on)

irishguy28

Trump's "America First" inauguration speech could have been written for him by the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies.

After all, they've created a narrative into which Trump can easily slot himself and his administration - an easy "win" for the US and its interests - without having to even consider the details.

If you are suggesting Trump will handle the issue of US big 3 airlines vs the ME Big 3 airlines solely on the basis of where he owns property - then don't forget he owns far more property in the US

(ATWOnline) Delta CEO: US airlines to press case against Gulf carriers with Trump

“I’m concerned that recent actions by some companies, like Norwegian Air International, and some countries, like the U.A.E. and Qatar are undermining our Open Skies Agreements hurting America workers because of the way they are financing their airlines…Competition is great but not when it’s not an even playing field.”
– Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator Minnesota, prior to the confirmation hearings for the new transport secretary

NWIFlyer

Let's not stray too far into politics here, please - that's what we have an OMNI/PR forum for.

To keep this relevant to A3, discussion should concentrate around the potential highlighted by the OP for A3 to gain through an agreement on domestic add-ons.

/mod

DELLAS

If they had millions to burn yes but thankfully the management so far seem to be more level headed and realistic so they will leave the longhaul to EK and others who have the resources and large global networks to feed them.


EK are indeed linking up with A3/OA and flights are now on sale for Domestic connections. Great news .

Knobbgb

I always wonder how such deals go down with Star Alliance partners. After all, the general idea of the alliance is to route passengers via a partner on those routes which the airlines does not operate themselves. I know there are no year round non-stops to the US but there are many good connections with TK, LH, LX, SK, UA, AC and others. Also there is the direct UA service in the summer which will be badly effected (or maybe killed entirely) by this. I wouldn't have thought A3's alliance partners would be too happy about them routing their connecting pax with the 'enemy' in this way.

I haven't traveled to the US for a while and now I absolutely won't, at least for the next four years (sorry, hint of politics), but I would never take a long haul flight outside *A, so this is of no use to me or probably many other frequent fliers. It's probably good for ATH and Greece as a whole though.

irishguy28

I presume they are charging a premium as a result.

Any special offers to celebrate the new route?

AS this is EK's first flight to Newark (though they may, of course, have served it in the past) - I wonder if they may perhaps start fifth freedom flights to EWR from other European stations? They could open up a new mini-hub at EWR and really piss off UA.

irishguy28

Whyever not?

I am sure A3/*A will admire your loyalty - but you should be loyal to your wallet. Your buck goes further if you shop around and don't just keep giving your love to one alliance

KLouis

A few months back my wife and I took a long haul in J flying AZ/EY. I cost us, for both, about 1200 less than a flight with the cheapest *A carrier.

DELLAS

I am not a slave to *A and I think you miss a lot in terms of varied products if you do that personally. I like to try different airlines and routes. IB are very good recently and being Irish based I fly EI a lot. I flew EK just over a year ago J Class to the Maldives and I have to say they were very impressive. I would certainly choose them in J ATH-EWR over many others one stop. The only Alliance I am not a fan of is Skyteam. Its a 3rd class Alliance IMHO and only a few decent carriers KL/ME would be my pick.

I doubt A3's other partners will kick up much as it will not be the bulk of their business and to be honest any extra bums on A3's Domestic network especially off season is to be welcomed. Often even the most established Alliance carriers have a few odd ball or conflicting agreements.

Knobbgb

I have absolutely zero "loyalty" to *A, or any other company/group for that matter. I'm just not a frequent enough traveller to gain status in more than one program although I manage to keep *G without actually doing mileage runs. Any mileage I get from long hauls (only one or two per year) is vital to my Gold renewal and so essential. I'm sure many of the airlines I'm missing out on have great products and I'd enjoy using them too. Qatar, for example, seem to have some VERY competitive J class fares out of Athens to Asia right now. I've taken exactly two non *A flights in the past three years (out of around 150). One Ryanair and one Easyjet, both on routes on which they were the only carrier.

NWIFlyer

Without dragging this too far off-topic, with that flying pattern and QR's fares you ought to be looking at at least BA Silver (although you'd have to find a couple of BA Greece-London returns for the four segments) and A3*G. I fly a little less than that, albeit much more long haul which helps, and last year very comfortably maintained BA Gold and A3 Gold.

Back on topic, what's more interesting for me is the choice of partner. I wonder what Etihad, as an existing partner and major regional rival, make of it?

irishguy28

It's business and Etihad have far more pressing matters to worry about. Like replacing their CEO and CFO, fixing their own business, and fixing the AZ and AB that are draining their resources and management.

(Etihad codeshares on a small number of A3 routes. They can continue to do so, but obviously never felt the need to enter into a greater codesharing arrangement to feed their ATH flights).