Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

It's not a speculation, it's a direct comparison.
In a global market each company has various advantages and disadvantages. Some past advantages become disadvantages and vice versa.

I would disagree. There are many passengers, premium and otherwise, that, when given the choice, will take the flight with "glamour" over the one that offers a poor hard product, mediocre, indifferent service and demeaning, cattle class conditions. Especially if the price for the two alternatives is not that much different or if the glamorous choice is even cheaper.

Companies like Emirates can exploit their special host country, sponsorship and labour market conditions to offer a potentially better product at a more competitive price than either American or European airlines can. The fact that companies like AFKL are cancelling their existing orders for airplanes, announcing their third round of company cost reductions in a year and begging the EU for protection against Emirates while Emirates orders 32 (!) more Airbus 380s speaks to how the market is moving.

1. No. But you might be looking to UAE to provide your international travel needs, especially as they blow several established competitors out of the water.

2. Joe Six-Pack can increasingly not even afford his rent and food in the same month let alone a ticket for Greyhound bus in the sky. He is not necessarily the main part of the rapidly growing target market of better or well-off citizens with pent up demand for flying and the pocketbook to pay for it outside of North America.