Originally Posted by
rankourabu
I cant imagine a load of 50 is hard to achieve when you are selling SFO-DXB for <$500 RT. So yes, demand at those prices perhaps exists.
I bought YYZ-DXB RT for <CAD600 on AC nonstops. At that price, yes, I ll suffer the horrible 787 Y seats. So yes, some demand may be there - but what kind of demand?
Bear in mind we're also basing our assumptions off of AC's first month at a new long haul route, in traditionally one of the slowest months for North America to Middle East flights.
For comparison's sake, UA appears to be offering flights to DXB from various US cities at almost the same price as AC. If we assume that both AC and UA are catering to similar markets from North America to DXB, and that AC's entry into the market doesn't dilute yields significantly, AC may be able to make DXB work.
And yes, I wouldnt put it past AC to start this route and lose money, just to prove a point. Lose the battle, win the war - there is far more at stake here.
EK/EY free access into Canada would be the end of AC/LH TATL beyond Europe.
I think it's important to remember that a significant portion of the passengers traveling between Canada and the MENA region/Indian sub-continent are not even using this joint venture that AC/LH have setup. For example, passengers traveling via PEK/PVG/HKG/LHR/AMS on the various Chinese and European carriers which make up a very significant percentage of the traffic ex-Canada to the aforementioned regions. These airlines will surely feel the most significant impact of EK/EY entering the market. This doesn't necessarily mean that AC/LH's joint venture is suddenly going to fall apart because of a lack of demand or decreasing yields.