Emirates and Etihad outmaneuvered again
Does the UAE negotiator work for Qatar Airways? At what point will emirates figure out they are negotiating from a position of weakness not strength?
My favorite paragraph:
Canada could retaliate against the UAE by cancelling the six flights a week that Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways currently fly to Toronto or by banning UAE aircraft from Canadian airspace as the UAE did when they refused access last month to a flight carrying Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Canada's top soldier, Gen. Walt Natynczyk. Such a move could cost the UAE's two national carriers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional fuel costs because it would add several hours' flying time and an additional stop to about a dozen passenger flights every day to the western United States and an hour per day of additional flying time to about half a dozen flights to the U.S. East Coast.
And then this:
U.A.E. Minister Says Canada Bans Officials From Flights on U.A.E. Carriers
United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said Canada has banned its government officials from flying on U.A.E. air carriers, calling the action an “escalation” of a dispute between the countries over landing rights for commercial flights.
“I don’t think it’s a smart decision,” Sheikh Abdullah said at a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers in Abu Dhabi.
“This is an escalation.”
[hahahahahahahaha, actually it's a response to an UAE escalation...]
U.A.E. carriers including Emirates have been seeking dozens of new landing slots in Canada, contending that the six weekly flights currently allowed aren’t enough to meet demand. Transport Canada, the government agency that oversees the airline industry, and Air Canada opposed granting more slots on concerns that U.A.E. carriers may eat into Air Canada’s traffic to cities such as Frankfurt.
On Nov. 9, the U.A.E. embassy in Ottawa said the nation will begin requiring Canadian visitors to apply for visas, starting Jan. 2.