Keep in mind that historically EK was from the relatively oil-poor Dubai while Dubai's rival Abu Dhabi has the big oil and a major historical and personal rivalry against Dubai. Abu Dhabi came up with EY because Dubai had EK.

The notion of Abu Dhabi wanting to subsidize EK with low oil prices is rather amusing to those of us who know of the intra-UAE rivalries, of the intra-family rivalries within some of these UAE emirates, and of how these mentioned rivalries have played out in this sector.