It would appear that not only the pilots at EK are upset.
Source: ATWonline.com
Other News
Wednesday June 1, 2005
Dubai-based Emirates came under concerted attack by rival airline CEOs at an industry forum held during the IATA AGM in Tokyo earlier this week. The extraordinary debate, which lasted more than an hour Monday, started when British Airways CEO Rod Eddington posed a question about whether airlines should or should not be government-owned or protected. That set the scene for an all-out assault from the assembled CEOs, who called into question the transparency of Emirates' balance sheet and also wanted to know how the airline was going to finance its huge orders for 45 555-seat A380s and 50 A340-600s and 777-300ERs. "Where are you going to get the money?" Air France-KLM Group Vice Chairman Leo van Wijk asked bluntly. In a terse reply, Emirates President Tim Clark, who maintains that the carrier does not get a cent from the government, said the books are transparent and there are no "shady bits or pages missing." The airline will acquire the A380s on operating leases that will be financed through cash flow, he added. Subsequently, Clark told ATWOnline, "When we started in the mid-'80s, we looked at the industry mistakes and legacy problems and started with a clean sheet of paper--we are the long-haul, low-cost airline." Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon, a speaker at the forum along with Clark and Air Canada Chairman Robert Milton, also took a swipe at Emirates, claiming that it enjoys the luxury of being owned by the government, which also owns the airport and sets aviation policy. "Any airline CEO that can control the airport and the government would be making a lot more money," said Dixon. "You can't be the owner and the regulator--it is inherently wrong." Milton, who succeeded Air France-KLM Group Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta as chairman of the IATA board of governors at the AGM, accused Emirates of capacity dumping, declaring that "what Emirates was doing in Australia was outrageous." Clark riposted that "while Emirates is flying into Australia six times a day, Qantas is making record profits."