Emirates expansion plans?

[akerosid]

I know there's a thread running on this issue in the "Airlines and Routes" forum, but it struck me as rather odd, the cities they have been choosing - and sometimes, not choosing.

Okay, I'm sure GLA has considerable commercial appeal, but Lagos and Accra? Sure, Nigeria is a big oil producer and has a predominantly Muslim population, but it's also generally considered the corruption capital of the world.

I'm particularly curious, because I understand that the Irish govt has been quite keen to get EK to fly to DUB, apparently without success, because the word in Dublin is that GF is to operate a number of charters over Christmas with a view to operating scheduled flights from next year. Given the Irish economy's stability and the country's attractiveness to tourists, especially to/from Aus/NZ and the lack of direct access from outside Europe, Dublin would seem to have been a natural choice. Now, if GF does the route, it would appear that EK "had its chance and blew it". For an airline with EK's expansion plans, it doesn't necessarily seem to be a good thing.

Are the routes announced for 2004 - Glasgow, Shanghai, Lagos/ Accra and Vienna "it" for 2004, or will they be adding more?

[Croozin]

You have obviously never seen the traffic created by all that corruption in Nigeria. EK planners have rarely got it wrong in the past, but for the life of me, I can't understand why they've avoiding Toronto-apur. There's oodles of EK style pax in that city.

[stormcloud]

Although there are many things that people complain about at EK, you have to take your hat off to the commercial side of things.

Akrosid - I would put my bonus on more destinations appearing at some point during the year, provided there are enough crew for the aircraft. Cape Town may be a good bet.

Croozin - as the 340/777ers arrive I think you will see Toronto appear along with Vancouver, Dallas, Chicago, Lax, Rio, etc etc.

Cheers

edited 'cos I sound like a company man!