Middle East Australian plans
EK and SQ essentially have no travelling public
EK have big markets to places like India and Pakistan where much of the UAE population is from.
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Stuck in the middle...
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My understanding some years ago (as told to me by a senior EK corporate sales person in London) was that EK was positioning itself as the leading airline for travel between western Europe and the subcontinent, based on subcontinentals in the West travelling back for a VFR trip. Air India and BA really only operated London to Delhi/Mumbai/Calcutta/Karachi, so EK stepped in and offered easy connections from UK midland cities (with large subcontinental-origin populations), plus the main ports in most western European countries with any decent-sized such population, to loads of places all over India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.
Also all the far-eastern expat workers in the Gulf coming in and going home for their yearly trip.
All they needed was a large fleet of flexibly-sized aircraft (ie. not so big as to be hard to fill but won't cost a motza to support during a short route downturn and which can carry a reasonable freight load) with nearby support (hence A330s, which can be supported out of Toulouse very easily). Boeings for the longer, more four/five-times-a-week routes (hence 777). Plus a good terminal to be able to handle all the connections (hence the Rashid building).
Worked a treat, by the looks. Step back and watch it grow...
Join Date: Feb 2005
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I think you are on the money but slightly overcomplicating it.
Ek's core business is exporting Indians, Pakistani's and Bangladeshi's to the rest of the world. Then to a lesser extent arabs to Manila and Bangkok.
Everything else is just profit.
Ek's core business is exporting Indians, Pakistani's and Bangladeshi's to the rest of the world. Then to a lesser extent arabs to Manila and Bangkok.
Everything else is just profit.
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The population of the UAE is around two million give or take. 80% of that isn't all that much and most of the workers/labourers here are given the very generous amount of 2-4 weeks leave every two years. I don't think I'd fill 45 A380s with that.
