Do you have a source for this? All official sources that I have read, explicitly state that EK received no government favours. This is different from other benefits that it receives (such as low oil prices - but this is because oil is cheap in Dubai, not because EK is getting the easy way out.) I do not have connection with the top management at EK (sadly ;) ) but I do know some people that work for them, and I have been reassured many times that nothing happens that it off the books. If this did happen, other countries would probably close their doors to EK, and they would have nowhere to fly to.

Airlines are quite different, in that they use price discrimintation. In your situation that would mean charging 80/c per game to the people that were willing to pay a max of 80/c per game, and chargin 245/c a game to people that were willing to pay. I find EK to be more expensive that most of its competitors especially from European cities.

Cheers

In this world how can one trust what some business leader says especially the accountants of the company? Didn't Enron teach us enough? Its not like that their financials are audited by independent sources, so even less trust in them. To be able to offer such ridiculous prices for such long distances really really smells fishy. Why would other countries close doors on them? There are plenty of government owned airlines the world over flying to capitailistic countries.

As I said before, their prices are not ridiculously cheap. Suppose they offered a $1 JFK-DXB-PER fare. This fare would only be available on limited flights / dates etc and almost no-one would be able to use it. EK will then more than make up for it with their expensive J class fares (and just look at how many people they cram in J vs other airlines) etc

If EK is getting a free ride, countries won't want to allow EK to fly there because it will harm the airlines flying there because they won't be able to compete with EK. An example is in Austrailia. Qantas constantly accuses EK of getting help, and they also accuse EK of flooding the trans-tasman market making it impossible to compete with them.

Cheers

I haven't looked that closely, but I don't see Abu Dhabi giving Dubai's pet projects (EK) cheaper fuel than available locally. Last I heard Abu Dhabi was trying to blackmail Dubai yet again.

I am sure that I've mentioned this on FT before:

1. The UAE's ultimate power is not subsidizing Dubai's pet project that is Emirates.
2. The UAE has a lot of oil and it's running out is not happening this decade or next. It's just that Abu Dhabi has most all of it while Dubai never had a whole lot.
3. The UAE's ultimately powerful royal family (the house that is Abu Dhabi's) is not that in love with Emirates' owners (which is the house that is Dubai's). ;)

I'll have to pull up my FT post on this matter before. :D

not bad at all..
 

flew EK in Y on A330 ATH-DXB and 77W DXB-JNB and back.. food was great, seat width not a problem for my lard-..... service was impeccable.. IFE on 77W is AMAZING!! plenty of legroom.. this was at Christmas time so flights were full to the brim. It was not uncomfortable at all..

I know!! I love the 77W. I don't notice the tight seat width at all (but I am VERY VERY thin) and I love the extra legrom, and of course, the IFE is excellent. I'm not an A330 fan though :p

[QUOTE=sadiqhassan]Do you have a source for this? All official sources that I have read, explicitly state that EK received no government favours. This is different from other benefits that it receives (such as low oil prices - but this is because oil is cheap in Dubai, not because EK is getting the easy way out.) I do not have connection with the top management at EK (sadly ;) ) but I do know some people that work for them, and I have been reassured many times that nothing happens that it off the books. If this did happen, other countries would probably close their doors to EK, and they would have nowhere to fly to.



I think your post here sums it up. If they did receive government assistance and made it public they would be cut out of several destinations. I personally don’t have a major problem with EK getting assistance from the Royal Family. It is keeping fares low and offering an alternative for consumers. As long as it does not lead to a monopoly in the distant future.

As for my source I do not have anything "official" (of course :D ). But I did watch an interview with the now late Royal family member who was on the board of both A1 and EK (The interview was in Australia shortly before he passed away in Brisbane and was flown back to Dubai :D ). Saying that for him the two most important things for the future or Dubai "the jewel in the UAE crown" was EK and A1 and how the board (the royal family) will be doing all it can to grow and make EK the best airline in the world (We will help them any way we can without being to obvious about it). Yes they get cheap fuel as it in cheaper in the UAE than other parts of the world but do you think if I established an airline based in Dubai I would get all the same benefits the EK get ....I doubt it

But what do you mean by benefits? If you started an airline in the UAE, you would get the same ridiculously cheap oil prices as Emirates gets...

Cheers

I don't know sadiqhassan... I still feel that Emirates gets a few favors every now and then and a couple of "lets look the other way"... IMHO, I believe that the rivalry between the emirate of Dubai and Abu Dhabi is so "vicious" that I honestly cannot believe that the royal family of each emirate is not somehow involved... Let's see what happens when the oil runs out in a few years.

If they are so expensive, as you claim, but also have excellent load factors as you also claim, what is it that is attracting customers??? I have never flown EK but have flown SG and CX and would definatley fly them if I was in a premium cabin rather than QF business. But surely there must be something that is attracting the custom. CX and SG are excellent airlines and in all fairness I would not fly EK over those two if EK was more expensive.

Edit: I just did a search and EK was the second cheapest option SYD-LHR for July travel in Business....sounds more like they are adopting my pricing strategy :D

Abu Dhabi's oil is not running out in a few years, at least not in the next 10-20 unless they radically increase extraction/production. Dubai's oil is another matter entirely, but it never had anywhere as much as Abu Dhabi does.

The dynamics of intra-UAE politics is very interesting. Then again it's "me against my brother; my brother and I against my cousin; my brother, my cousin and I against the tribe; my brother, my cousin, my tribe and I against the other tribes; my brother, my cousin, my tribe, the other tribes and I against the outsiders." And so on.

If you do a search on the web, you will find plenty of articles which point to cheap labour in Dubai (these are general and not specifically related to Emirates), however, I would be very surprised if one of the main factors in their success was the relatively low costs of using Dubai airport.

Additionally, as Dubai is their base, and doubtless they have staff based in other cities around the world, they are going to benefit from more cost effective routes transiting their own country, just as SQ, CX and other Asian and Middle Eastern carriers will.

BA and LH probably have the edge if you are flying from the Middle East to anywhere in America (perhaps with the exception of New York, but even then BA or LH may be more competitively priced). But flying to Asia Pacific from Europe, EK is bound to be able to be so competitive, because its frequencies, and as I mentioned the relatively low costs at Dubai (I stand to be corrected as far as Dubai is concerned, but I can't believe that EK is paying a lot to use this airport).

The assistance EK receives is rather indirect. Much of it revolves around the airport. For instance, there is only one ground handling agent at DXB -- Dnata, which is owned by EK. All other airlines at DXB must use Dnata for all services (ramp, ticketing, pax handling, etc.). Dnata's fees are quite high compared to airports where services are competitive (e.g. most of Europe). The govt perserves this monopoly for EK which forces other airlines to subsidize EK. Want catering? Your only choice is Emirates flight catering. Who was contracted for all of the IT infrastructure for the new terminal at DXB? Mercator, EK's systems integration subsidiary. If the government were to allow competition for all of these services, EK would be much less "profitable"

Other airports are on the table for discussion and more, including from those in the UAE establishment that don't want to see Dubai "get it all". In other words, EK's "monopoly" won't be around forever as much of the UAE's government is not eager to let Dubai "have it all".

It must be remembered that more direct national government ownership of airlines and airport authorities/facilities exists elsewhere -- or existed elsewhere -- and that's been no guarantee of success. If anything, that's normally been a formula for lousy travel (with notable exceptions).

Indeed... I meant to say wonder what would happen to EK once the oil runs out? Wonder if they will add on a hefty fuel surcharge to their tickets...

LOL :D ... Oh so true... Very interesting dynamics indeed...