United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier Emirates Airline will continue its dramatic network and capacity expansion in 2012 by introducing additional flights to some key markets in the Middle East and North Africa, including additional daily flights into Kuwait and Qatar from August, growing capacity across the two routes by almost 29 per cent.
The sixth daily flight to Doha, Qatar and fifth daily rotation to Kuwait City, Kuwait will mean the two destinations will remain Emirates’ most served markets in the Middle East and will help support the countries’ planned trade and tourism growth. Both cities play a key role in the region’s business growth, attracting international investors and facilitating global trade and Emirates will offer a total of 46,430 seats for inbound and outbound travel each week, across the two markets.
“These additional frequencies have been added to accommodate increasing demand from our customers. Both Doha and Kuwait are extremely viable markets for Emirates and there is a clear indication that they will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years,” said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran, Emirates Airline.
The Dubai – Doha route is one of the busiest in the region. Emirates has operated flights to the Qatari capital since 1994 and last increased frequencies in December 2009 when services went from four flights a day to five. It plans to use a three-class Airbus A340-300 on the new rotation adding to the existing flights operated by a mix of A330-200 and Boeing 777 equipment.
An estimated 1.06 million O&D passengers travelled on this route in 2011, with Emirates holding a 22 per cent share of the traffic. Low-cost carrier flydubai, a sister venture to Emirates Airline, dominates the market with around a 45 per cent share from its eight daily flights, while Qatar Airways has a 33 per cent share thanks to its more than eleven times daily operation, albeit many of its flights are operated using narrowbodied Airbus A320 Family jets.
The Dubai – Kuwait route was first launched by Emirates back in 1989 and it last expanded its frequency in July 2009. Its current four daily flights are operated by a mix of A330-200 and Boeing 777 equipment with the new rotation due to be flown by a three-class 777-300ER. There are already more than 120 flights per week on the route offering over 25,000 seats in each direction. In 2011, Emirates had a 20 per cent share of the estimated 1.10 million O&D passengers that travelled on the route, ranking it as the third largest carrier between the two destinations behind flydubai (31 per cent) and Jazeera Airways (21 per cent).
In North Africa, Emirates will respond to strong passenger demand in Tunisia by launching a seventh weekly frequency and introducing the 258-seat Airbus A340-500 on the Dubai - Tunis route from March 25, 2012. The additional flight, coupled with an aircraft change, will increase Emirates’ capacity to Tunis by almost 30 per cent, representing an extra 384 seats each way per week. It will also provide an additional 15 tonnes of weekly cargo capacity.
“By providing an extra flight and upgrading the aircraft, we are responding to strong demand for additional capacity on the Tunis-Dubai route,” said Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice President - Passenger Sales Worldwide, Emirates Airline. “The strengthened service will foster new business and tourism to one of our key destinations within Africa and provide even more convenient connections for onward travel through our international hub of Dubai".
Already this year, Emirates has launched new routes to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Lusaka, Harare and Dallas. It will launch flights to Seattle this week (from March 1, 2012) and will add services to Ho Chi Minh City from June 4, 2012; Barcelona from July 3, 2012 and Lisbon from July 9, 2012.
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