I don't wanna imagine now how this new MCO route will fuel OP.
iahphx fire up!

Like, who wants to fly from some shanty-town in the desert to some trailer park in the swamp?

Right???

:D:D:D:D

No, no, EK won't have any trouble with demand but it's only going to be cheap tourists from India, China and SE Asia who can only afford a one-stop connection via DXB instead of being premium pax filling up all the non-stop routes to MCO from Asia or two-stops via Europe or TPAC. There aren't any people in that part of the world with any money to travel in J or F anyway so it's going to be all low-yield backpackers, at least those who can afford US visas and tourism costs...

:D

^ :D

They have a business to operate despite the US3 and EU3 seeking to do as life's scoundrels do: seek refuge in politics.

The GCC3 may well want to consider doing business as usual, if not also advancing plans to "invade" the US market with more non-stop service to/from the Gulf. All those new, big planes from European and American manufacturers have to be put into use somehow.

Even Mickey is all for EK.

Now now...talking about long thin routes OP will come out with an essay.
Next up..Waco!

It is most certainly a "scam" -- at least it's a route that could not possibly exist in this world without billions in gov't subsidies. As is Emirates new 2x to SEA flight.

Both routes fly in the face of how all other int'l air travel exists.

Emirates will have 48 lie-flat biz class seats and 9 first class suites (along with 216 coach seats) to sell on those MCO flights. Premium class demand to MCO is extremely low: everyone knows this is a leisure destination. That's why there's very little transatlantic service to Orlando, because we all know (well, everyone except the ME3) that you need biz class demand to pay for most long haul flights. That you would even ATTEMPT to fly with 48 biz class and 8 FC suites boggles the mind. Is Orlando the dream destination of every member of the UAE royal family? Are there dozens of Indians pining for the opportunity to fly biz class with their families to Orlando? If this is the case, how has every other airline missed this business "opportunity" for decades? :)

The 2x SEA flights are similarly astonishing. It would be hard to imagine 2 city pairs with worse geography. A Dubai connection makes no sense for 99.9% of the int'l air travelers from SEA. If you're headed to India -- which is where Emirates says most of their SEA passengers originate -- you have to massively overfly India and head back. I would assume most premium class passengers would have no interest in this remarkably bad routing, and that leisure travelers wouldn't be terribly keen either. The only reason to fly it would be price. But, again, it would be substantially more expensive for Emirates to fly these pax than what the Asian carriers could do.

None of these Econ 101 issues ever matter to Emirates. Or their supporters.

Ahem, its 42 J-class seats and 8 x F seats.

You are correct. Now the flight makes perfect economic sense, right? ;)

I mean, really. This is crazy stuff. If you wanted to prove your airline wasn't a money-making enterprise, this is exactly the way you'd do it.

MCO TATL flights:11 different destinations; including a twice daily by BA and VS. There is no TATL from US airlines, but quite a bit of traffic from EU airlines.


Supporters of US3 seems to have problems with geography though. SEA-DXB does not fly over India, it is a polar route:
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=SEA-DXB

You misunderstand planetary geography. You wouldn't overfly India to get to Dubai. Actually, a quick Kayak search demonstrates that the shortest flight combinations to get from Seattle to Mumbai are on, wait for it - Emirates. The other short routes are via Europe not via Asia. Why? you ask? Because Emirates flies a polar route from Seattle to Dubai, not over the Pacific, closer to what the European carriers do.

For Delhi, it is a Delta/KLM combination via Amsterdam which is the shortest, but second place seems to be...Emirates.

As far as MCO, there are other well-off people in the world beyond the UAE royal family. For example, people forget just how big India is. Even though it is a poor country overall, the 6% of its population that is middle/upper class (by US standards) is about the same size as the entire population of the UK. I'm not saying that this flight will work. It may very well not, but I can see an airline that is expanding such as Emirates is going to try secondary markets. I doubt all of those attempts will be successful, any more than many other choices by other airlines don't pan out. That doesn't mean they are getting subsidies.

edited to add: India's economy has grown over the past few decades and there have been significant cultural shifts as well. The world does change. Just because a business 'opportunity' didn't exist decades ago, doesn't mean one doesn't exist now.

When my son was little, he would often run around with a finger in each year yelling "I'm not listening, I'm not listening..."

Anyway.

I dont really want to wade into this turkey shoot and I am by no means an EK apologist, but by your logic, the following airlines are all crazy as well.

- BA flies twice daily from LGW to MCO
- LH from FRA
- Aer Lingus
- Aero Mexico
- Air Canada
- Avianca
- etc

In fact, I count some 23 non US airlines all flying into MCO.

As an aside, I was on an EK flight from MEL to AKL a month or so ago. Was in revenue F (3hr flight). It is a daily A380 service. Flight went out full (30 op ups to J, F was full). Obviously Y was packed to the rafters.

Draw your own conclusions from that I suppose but to me, its clearly an example of the Australian and NZ market speaking with their wallets. I know this market makes money for EK.

Some more food for thought here.
http://centreforaviation.com/analysi...king-it-147262

Quite!

So....reducing service, closing routes, letting staff go....these would be the markers of a money-making enterprise? Because you're saying that expansion, recruitment, and aircraft purchases aren't.

You don't seem to realise that wealthy people travel in premium cabins - even for their vacations! Imagine that! Or is it really the case that none of the American carriers fly to Orlando with anything but a single, economy-only cabin?

And this doesnt even include the countless charters and scheduled services in/out of SFB (and some MCO) to BRU,AMS,OSL,CPH,DUB and every airfield in the UK.
I think the OP is underestimating the power of Mickey.

I guess all those airlines are losing money too with all that capacity to the Orlando area.
But because no US airlines fly TATL from Orlando - it must be a scam by everyone else.