EK are getting excellent load factors out of GLA and must be looking to increase capacity. However, I think that another daily 773 service would be just too big a step up and so I suppose the obvious option would be to go to 2 x 332 services. We then have the interesting possibility of them being persuaded to operate one of these from Edinburgh. If they saw someone like Qatar or Etihad eyeing Edinburgh up then they might just decide to pre-empt them.
I agree and said something similar way back in 2005 on a separate thread as follows
The GLA route has been very successful and proves there is a considerable market out there for O & D and hub traffic from Scotland. This will not have gone unnoticed by their competitors.
I am certain that Emirates would prefer not to operate from two airports so close together as this would incur higher costs, but the last thing Emirates would want is a competitor who may not want to go head to head at GLA and choose to operate from EDI against the Emirates GLA route.
Operating from both airports may be a spoiler to prevent this and ensure that fares are controlled by one operator.
Think about how Continental have developed in Scotland, who could easily have continued to grow their GLA-EWR route. By operating into EDI it has prevented competition from another US major as the route definitely would not support two carriers at this moment in time.
Having the monopoly to New York has helped enable CO to maintain higher fares than flights from other UK airports where competition exists.
Since then we have seen Delta come and go to New York so the plan for Continental seems to work.
We will just have to wait and see what EK do next in Scotland (unless someone in the know can provide us with a clue).
Ex