Emirates Boosts Capacity in Germany

United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier Emirates Airline is to boost capacity on two of its routes to Germany but continues to press authorities for permission to launch flights to Berlin and Stuttgart. The company has confirmed that it will introduce a third daily flight between Dubai and Frankfurt, as well as introducing the Airbus A380 on one of its two daily flights to Munich.

The additional Frankfurt flight will take effect during the next winter schedule and the launch date and slot times are to be confirmed nearer the launch date and will be introduced in accordance with the current air services arrangements between the UAE and Germany. Meanwhile, the A380 will be introduced on the airline’s morning flight to Munich from January 1, 2012 becoming the first foreign carrier to utilise the type in the German market

"A third daily flight to Frankfurt and the German-built A380 serving Munich is another positive step in what is now a multi-billion US dollar relationship between Emirates and Germany, supporting thousands of German jobs," said Salem Obaidalla, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation, Emirates Airline.

Emirates Airline first launched flights to Germany in 1987 when it introduced a connection between Dubai and Frankfurt. As the table above illustrates, it currently operates 49 passenger flights to Germany per week from its Dubai hub, with existing connections to Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. It has already announced plans to introduce a second daily link to Hamburg from September 1, and its current expansion will mean capacity to Germany will increase by more than a third this winter.

An estimated 995,000 O&D passengers travelled between Germany and Dubai in the past year, up 11.7 per cent on the previous year. Emirates Airline accounts for a 62.6 per cent share of this traffic, but statistics show that the airline offers more than just point-to-point travel options, but links across its wider network. As the table below shows, an additional 784,000 passengers (57.3 per cent of its total) fly via Dubai to and from other destinations, with Thailand, India, Australia and China the main markets.

Emirates Airline is now pushing hard to gain further access into Germany, one of half a dozen markets where authorities are playing tough. It has been pushing for rights to serve Berlin and Stuttgart for a number of years, but airline officials confirm that no further progress has been made despite various trade and commerce visits by German politicians over recent months, including German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle visiting last month.

"Fair market access and open competition is good for Emirates, customers and the global economy,” highlighted Mr Obaidalla. “In the midst of extraordinary consolidation within our industry, we believe that the merits of competition are now more important than ever."

At the moment the air service agreement limits carriers from the UAE to serving just four German markets and the German transport ministry sees no benefits to changing this. Its stance is simple…If Emirates Airline wants to serve additional markets such as Berlin or Stuttgart, it will simply have to suspend its existing flights to one or more destinations.

Emirates Airline said the economic case for introducing flights to these additional destinations “has never been stronger” but it is not confident that anything will change in the foreseeable future, having applied for the rights to serve these destinations since 2004. “Emirates’ services to Berlin and Stuttgart, both of which remain underserviced in terms of scheduled intercontinental routes, would benefit trade, investment, tourism and employment in the two cities, their surrounding regions and nationwide in Germany,” it said.

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