@Trackdiamond, much as I agree with most of your assessments with regards to aircraft acquisition and fleet management, however i do not think it is true EK is operating its A345 to NBO due to politics. EK has been planning to retire its entire A330/340 fleet for sometime now, most of the aircrafts are aging and are just unable to compete against the 77W on long haul ops. In terms of economics.
My understanding is they expect to be operating only 777 and A380's in the near future, there's also talk of acquiring the A350 once it's cleared for commercial ops.
Last edited by odericko2000; 6th May 2014 at 16:16.