Originally Posted by
rankourabu
There is speculation, they are only starting DXB to "prove" that there is no demand on the route in the next round of lobbying the govt to continue with the subsidy (and blocking EK/EY)
Originally Posted by
Wpgjetse
Just thinking. Maybe AC is starting this route to fail. Then they can say to the government that the traffic is not great enough for more flights. Then AC cancels flight and government doesn't let more EK/EY flights into Canada. Possibility?
In an airline dictated by investor returns, I would personally be surprised to see this be the case. I appreciate the opinion, it is a possibility.
Connections have told me that AC's first month at YYZ-DXB have advance bookings ranging anywhere from 50-90%, whilst DXB-YYZ seems to be more stagnant around the 50% range. Evidently, we only have the metric of load factors to prove, and no yield information, but for a first month's operations advance bookings, it's nothing to complain about. I can testify that EK has run lower load factors to destinations in their first month of operations that have since been upguaged. Nevertheless, it is still telling that there is a demand for AC's DXB flights with the information I have been provided.