flyboy777

I thought EK were trying to concentrate on the less touristy markets. I would imagine that it wouldn't be a great use of aircraft either. All the asian & far eastern flights land in DXB in the early hours & depart again after midnight. A connecting flight would have to depart DXB at around 8am along with all the European/Westbound traffic...sit on the ground all day then return at around 8pm arriving in time to connect to Asia. Within the same time...the aircraft could get to Europe & back, probably bringing with it more lucrative customers. It may come, but perhaps after regional European destinations.

directorguy_

I'm sure that if EK partnered themselves with the right peple and offered competitive (probably very low) prices then it would be a success. There are a lot of Asians tourists-these people fly to Alexandria on Emirates to take a bus to Cairo or wherever.
Of course loads of people would be interested if Emirates began a holiday package to SSH or LXR. These could be residents of Dubai, or aformentioned Asian tourits. Plus there is a large number of Egyptians residing in Dubai who must make do with flying from Air Arabia or transiting at Cairo.
I'm just saying EK should put SSH and LXR on the 'list' and begin investigating possibilities. I'd say a 3x weekly service to each should do it. Prefferebly using a narrow-body, but then again, EK operates widebodies only. On the other hand, Qatar Airways also flies to Luxor around 4-5x weekly.
Entering LXR and SSH should give priority to more profitable routes, I agree, but they would make great additions. Esp. at SSH where there is a shortage of scheduled 'legitimate' airlines.

sadiqhassan

I think EK's justification for operating widebodies to places such as DOH and BAH is due to the cargo loads - I don't think LXR would work too well for EK because I don't think cargo loads would be too high.

Cheers,

directorguy_

Cargo at LXR and SSH would indeed be minimal, if any. Operating flights there would be for tourist passengers. Still its Emirates, if they wanted to fill up 2 huge B777s of passengers to go to Egypt, then they'd do it.

bvms

Daily non-stop Jakarta (CGK) - Effective 1 October 2008
EK356 DEP DXB 0415 ARR CGK 1555 B777-300ER JY
EK357 DEP CGK 0030 ARR DXB 0520 B777-300ER JY

SIN, CGK de-linked

EK344 DXB-CGK-SIN-DXB discontinued.
EK348 no longer continues on-to CGK.
EK346 no longer continues on-to CGK.

bvms: that's sad that sin-cgk is delinked I use that 2tmes a year. it's sad that kul-cgk is also delinked, that would of been my alternative route.

I'm happy about the 7 addl del flts, but due to lousy "goon at the gate" who picks up hand luggage, i avoid del and instd fly out of bom. I still wish for dxb-jai-dxb flts.


2nd Daily Brisbane (BNE) - Effective 26 October 2008
EK434 DEP DXB 0305 ARR BNE 2320 A340-500 FJY
EK435 DEP BNE 0225 ARR DXB 1125 A340-500 FJY

7 additional weekly Delhi (DEL) frequencies

4 of which added effective 30 March 2008
3 of which added effective 1 July 2008

EK514 DEP DXB 1645 ARR DEL 2125 Equipment varies
EK515 DEP DEL 2255 ARR DXB 0040 Equipment varies
Mo, We B777-300 FJY
Tu B777-200ER FJY
Th B777-300ER FJY
Fr, Sa, Su A330-200 FJY

2 additional weekly Ahmedabad (AMD) frequencies

EK538/EK539 DXB-AMD-DXB upgraded to Daily service effective 30 March 2008 (from 6x weekly)

Additional frequency effective 4 April 2008
EK540 DEP DXB 1455 ARR AMD 1905 A330-200 JY
EK541 DEP AMD 2035 ARR DXB 2205 A330-200 JY
Day of operation: Fr

GK

Many egyptians work in the GCC, and head home for their leave breaks, some would go direct to the beach resorts I am sure. I know several who'd happily fly direct to the Red Sea coast and skip struggling to get seats DXB/CAI at peak times. Then there are the GCC nationals who take their extended summer breaks.. all heading to Egypt.

Since when does EK care that much about passenger load % anyway?

flyboy777

Name an airline that wouldn't

Emirates fly to a huge range of destinations, & connect an awful lot of passengers. Some flights are empty because they are positioning for an high-revenue flight. Most EK flights are slam-packed.

I'd expect EK to fly to more regional European destinations before trying to crack low-yield markets like Egypt for reasons stated in my previous posts. What about DUB, GVA, BRU? All three of them are much more compelling than a tourist hotspot which will also have regular labourers visiting families etc.

directorguy_

It feels fair that EK should concentrate on breaking into new markets, namely European regional destinations that will enable pax to connect. Plus, EK is doing its best on entering North America.
EK cares about filling its planes up. After all, SSH and LXR and HRG aren't sure-fire successes. But they're important enough to go on the long-term list. My point is that with EK serving these low-yields, then they'd become high-yields, with the right marketing and a little patience. There is a lot of potential-SSH handles around 5m passengers a year. Both Saudi and Kuwaiti serve the airport but I bet its all point-to-point.

flyboy777

Does anyone know how the campaign for slots into NRT is going? I know Emirates are desparate to get in their, but so is everyone else. Could the current NGO/KIX flights have tag on flights to HND? I know they're codeshared with JAL currently, but would it make a difference with EKs own metal. The current Japanese flights have plenty of downtime at the moment. It would give arrivals/departure times from HND in the primetime evening slot.

HugoCH

I read recently (sorry - I can't recall where) that EK is debating whether to add a 3rd daily flight to ZRH or add a 1st flight to GVA (fingers crossed for the latter). Connections on EK through DXB would be much better than the current options on Etihad via AUH or QR via DOH.

flyboy777

Yeah, the loads upfront to Zurich are fantastic. I say they do both! I'd expect EK to do some more out of ZRH soon anyway. SQ have just announced double daily. Perhaps triple sevens? What would the 3rd daily do? 2am ex DXB, 8am ex ZRH ish? GVA seems obvious though...

directorguy_

Loads of Gulf nationals travel to GVA, its a popular destination for many. Plus, connecting onward traffic would be great. But if EK's unsure about load, they could do DXB-Zurich-GVA, therefore satisfying need for a triple daily to Zurich and adding Geneva. But its going to be a new thing-last time I checked the only European destination getting more than double daily was London. So its a big step for EK. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

GlobalOne

Yea let it roll!!! SF?

flyboy777

Looking at the EK timetable, 3rd daily Zurich doesn't add up. Currently, one daily flight is A340-500, & the other A345 4x weekly & the remaining 3 by an A330-200. Surely, any capacity issues can be solved by a triple seven? EK generally upgrade flights THEN add frequency. ZRH (& FRA) seems to be the major exception. Perhaps they want an overnight from DXB for the businessmen?

GVA looks more likely at the moment. The A340-500 doesn't really seem to have a role with EK anymore...

sadiqhassan

I don't know why, but I don't think EK would do DXB-ZRH-GVA. GVA pax can get to Asia via other hubs in Europe and The Middle East more easily.
... and MUC/DUS although I think MUC does get some 777s now.

I was thinking that too. The A340-500 doesn't have particularly low operating costs, a particularly good product, or offer a good amount of capacity. Apart from on SYD/MEL, I don't see it being a particularly good addition to EK's fleet.

If you compare the A330 to a B777-200, you can see that the A330 has (by %) a lot more Premium seats. A 3 class A330 has 54FJ and 183Y, or 22%. In contrast, a 3-class Boeing 777-200 has 54FJ seats and 236Y seats or 18.6% AFIAK, on the ZRH route the demand is high for the Premium products not the Economy one, so an upgrade to a 777 doesn't help the Premium loads very much. (An A340-500 has 54FJ and 204Y or 20.9% premium seats.)

Cheers,