Originally Posted by
Emirates202
He keeps telling us that we don't understand airline finance, but he can't seem to comprehend how EK works. I think almost everyone has told him that EK relies on connecting passengers, which is true (anyone that has flown EK or through DXB would know this) but he just doesn't listen or doesn't want to believe it for some odd reason.
If you are telling me that Emirates makes money on low yielding connecting pax, I am telling you that you are living in a fantasy world. There is not an airline in the world that makes "real" money doing this. It is not possible -- and it would be completely impossible on long-haul routes. The fuel cost alone of flying one pax roundtrip from Texas to Dubai on an A380 IF EVERY SEAT WERE FULL would be about $550. And that's before you pay the fuel for their connecting flight! This is, btw, why ultra long haul markets are so tough to make profitable (ask Qantas).
This is why every successful hub airport in the world -- except these Middle East hubs -- are in major cities with lots of high-yielding business traffic. You need the high yielding O/D traffic to sustain a hub. Arguing that these Middle Eastern airlines have invented some sort of business model that works around this reality -- and that there's enough business to sustain several airlines in the region all doing the same thing -- is like arguing that the rules of physics don't apply to them. It's crazy stuff.