kuroko

Hi all

First of all, please no discussions about scam/subsidies etc. as we have enough of them in the other thread.

After the recent interview from Sir Tim and again talking about new possible EU-US routes “The attacks by the troika [of US airlines] have made us rethink the model. When we did Milan, 20 other cities asked us to do the same. This is what the US airlines want to stop.”, I am wondering which feeder airline would be possible within the EU.

I know the loads are not that good out of MXP to JFK from an “European perspective" (Pax coming from Europe and not from DXB. Actually HAM-JFK was also cancelled in the end because of no passengers out of Europe). Of course there is still the possibility to book the flights on a separate ticket but with the known disadvantages (baggage allowance, connectivity etc.) - would probably work for some Economy passengers but not for C/F.

In my opinion an (new) EU route would only make sense if there would be an agreement for feeder flights from Europe to [new departure airport EU-US].

Any ideas for a possible upcoming feeder agreement within Europe?

irishguy28

That is not really the Emirates way.

They have said multiple times that there are cities that are underserved (as regards direct transatlantic flights), and it would almost certainly be on that basis the EK would commence flights.

This was (at least partly) the reason for MXP-JFK and, presumably, was for the old HAM-JFK service, too.

Again, I don't see Emirates wanting to/needing to work with any partners in Europe.

None of the aligned carriers would probably want to/be allowed to partner with Emirates. That just leaves the unaligned/small/LCC carriers - which would not be particularly useful for consolidating transfer pax at whichever "hub" (or hubs) EK would use. (Whichever "hub" is in question would most likely already be a hub of an existing aligned European carrier - who would be unlikely to want to assist Emirates encroaching into "their" market). The most likely candidate would be Easyjet - EK has at least some form of partnership with them. But this would be an awkward solution, particularly for J/F customers.

EK would, if they pursue further fifth freedom flights, likely only consider cities where they have a reasonable expectation of pairing the DXB-XXX demand with the XXX-JFK [or wherever, in the US] demand, and be able to operate without the need for arranging transfers at the XXX "hub".

kuroko

Totally agree with your raised points. However was just wondering which XXX could be and also if the XXX would work without passengers out of Europe (as MXP-JFK is doing well however most of the passengers are not out of Europe).

irishguy28

2 years ago, EK raised the possibility of flying from "Northern English cities" direct to the US.

In Tim Clark's interview reported yesterday, he mentioned "Swedish and Danish cities" in the same breath as the statement that as many as 20 European cities consider themselves underserved and having made at least some approach to Emirates.

During the whole Etihad/Aer Lingus initial investment, it emerged that both EK and EY had sought permission to operate from DUB to the US.

AirJunkie

Considering KLM doesnt serve Miami directly anymore (glaring hole in their routing), I've heard rumors that EK would like to start AMS-MIA.

This would be welcome, and in this case certainly NOT empty.

irishguy28

Unlikely to happen any time soon, as the Dutch are currently exercising their right under the UAE-NL Air Services Agreement to refuse extra services at Schiphol to UAE carriers.

irishguy28

From the "new routes and changes 2015" thread: