Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - Etihad-Emirates tie-up rumour denied by EK's Clark & Etihad

There may well be a thread already in the EK forum.

Here's the denial:
No discussions over EY - EK tie-up (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/11/24/319255/no-discussions-over-etihad-emirates-tie-up.html) [FlightGlobal]

Clark: 'we have no instructions...or guidance from our owners, whatsoever'

In the same article an Etihad spokeman also categorically denied the story, based on a rumour that Abu-Dhabi based businesses were pursuing/wooing their cash-strapped Dubai cousins.

Is today a slow news days or is this just a reason to publish, despite the unequivocal denials?

Emirates and Etihad merger rumours raise prospect of airline giant in Middle East (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article5254612.ece)[Times Online]
Doubt over Dubai's ability to meet its debt obligations has led many businessmen in the city-state to become convinced that the Government will have to sell assets such as Emirates to survive.

It is a huge asset. While Western airlines are shrinking, Emirates is on course to become the largest international airline in the world some time during the next decade, having carried 21 million passengers last year. It has $60 billion (£39 billion) of aircraft on order, including 58 of the double-decker Airbus 380s, and will begin A380 services from Dubai to London on Monday.

Etihad is also growing. Set up by Abu Dhabi only five years ago, it is already carrying six million passengers a year and it, too, has an order book that most Western airlines could only dream of.

Aside from the fact the idea has been shut down, the rest of the story is interesting - big picture stuff.

As at least on person here keeps saying, it's a folly to have two such huge commercial airlines 45 miles from each other, in the same nation.

With the Qantas story on the QFF forum, it will be very interesting to see what airlines merge or join 'super airlines' in 2009.

You heard it second on the FT MEAFFP forum. ;)

The Gulf sits between Asia, Africa and Europe: it is estimated that 3.5billion people live within an eight-hour flight of Dubai.

Any two leading cities anywhere in the world can be connected via Dubai or Abu Dhabi, which makes the Gulf the perfect transit hub. Passengers flying from Glasgow or Dublin, for example, can fly direct to Dubai or Abu Dhabi and on to Sydney or Tokyo, rather than transiting through both Heathrow and Hong Kong or Bangkok.

By building up their airlines and their airports, the Gulf states believe that they can snap up this traffic. It is an ambitious plan, but if the Gulf carriers succeed, they will place the Middle East at the centre of people and trade movements in the 21st century. So great is their challenge that some European governments, keen to protect their flag-carriers, have blocked Emirates from gaining access to their cities.

“Our strategy is about reducing the length of journey times and making the trip from A to Z as smooth as possible,” Mr Hogan said. “If we can offer more efficient journeys, there will be a shift in traffic to our region.”

With Emirates, Etihad and Qatar all following essentially the same strategy, there are doubts that all three can achieve their goal, which is perhaps why the Emirates-Etihad rumours have seemed so plausible.

Mr Hogan said: “The Gulf carriers do have a similar strategy, but if you ask me who my competition is, I'd say European and Asian carriers who want passengers to go through London or Hong Kong and not the Gulf.”

As at least on person here keeps saying, it's a folly to have two such huge commercial airlines 45 miles from each other, in the same nation.


As you know, they don't really see it this way. The ruling families of these emirates certainly compete with each other in some dimensions. Moreover, I don't agree with the argument that it's "folly," anyway. Plenty of nations have multiple competing airlines and hubs!

P.S. I am surprised to learn that EK is on track to become the largest international airline in terms of passenger volume. Bigger than BA, LH, AF, etc.? Impressive.

They should have just revamped Gulf Air and moved hub to Dubai when they were all partners and had one major carrier. In time they will merge - it almost defies logic to have 2-3(EY, EK,QR) super carriers within 30 mins flying time of each other!
I would have rebranded GF to 'Arabian Airways' or the like ...maybe even just had MEA- Middle East Airlines since it owns the regions name! :P

Seriously a merge into Dubai as a hub would be great. All these millions being spent on airports in DOH and AUH - wonder how many mouths (in the Muslim world, let alone the rest) that would feed. EGO WAR!

CJ

Plenty of nations have multiple competing airlines and hubs!


Outside the US I'm not sure there are too many examples of that :rolleyes:

And some cruel types might suggest the US model is not the most successful ....

practical point: two different countries cannot simply merge operations at one airport. imagine vancouver shutting down and using sea-tac.

practical point: two different countries cannot simply merge operations at one airport. imagine vancouver shutting down and using sea-tac.

However EK and EY exist in UAE, so it's not subject to your practical point.
Since the owners of Gulf Air, Etihad and Qatar co-owned an airline prior to the split, I can't see an issue with a super airline from an ownership viewpoint.

The merging of hubs IS an issue and therein lay an interesting roadblock - neither city would want to not be the hub. :D

They should have just revamped Gulf Air and moved hub to Dubai when they were all partners and had one major carrier. In time they will merge - it almost defies logic to have 2-3(EY, EK,QR) super carriers within 30 mins flying time of each other!
I would have rebranded GF to 'Arabian Airways' or the like ...maybe even just had MEA- Middle East Airlines since it owns the regions name! :P

Seriously a merge into Dubai as a hub would be great. All these millions being spent on airports in DOH and AUH - wonder how many mouths (in the Muslim world, let alone the rest) that would feed. EGO WAR!

CJ

I really envy MEA's name-very catchy. Their full name is Middle East Airlines Air Liban (Tayran ash-Sharq al Awsat Al Khotout Al Jawiya Al Lubnaniya) but for obvious reasons MEA is the catchy part.:)
Remember GF? Well it was co-owned by all Gulf states (save Kuwait) and was the biggest airline out of Dubai. But their ego got to big and internal squabbling led to the creation of Emirates which slowly rolled out until the late 1990s when it had become a mini-Singapore Airlines. During the early 2000s it was clear that it was the new superairline alongside Qatar and Etihad. GF must be kicking themselves right now-they had the chance to be QR, EY, EK all in one but destroyed the chance.
Many critics/economists/analyists point out that the Gulf market is too small and overlapping to have a real impact. Only time will tell as to whether the market can sustain 4 big airlines (GF has been laying low but once it's current order is fulfilled it will be a sizeable airline even if it will be the smallest of the Big Four). Given the current situation, I think that expansion of Gulf airlines is currently on hold.