Emirates: new strategy without the Airbus A380

L'A380 has been the cornerstone of theEmirates for 20 years. But the Airbus has also meant that Emirates has missed out on a number of opportunities... Notably services to secondary cities, an option that Emirates has often had to forego, with a fleet of high-capacity long-haul aircraft. As a result, the airline has been fine-tuning its new strategy for the past nine months. The Chairman of Emirates, Tim Clarkunveiled part of the carrier's strategy at the start of the week, during the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

Tim Clark acknowledges that Emirates is finding it harder to find profitable new routes in a weakening global economy. L'Dubai airport recorded its lowest growth over more than a decade in 2018, to 1% for 89.1 million passengers.

Hence the new strategy of buying smaller-capacity aircraft which will affect the vision of the Dubai mega-hub. The A380s will gradually be replaced by Airbus A330neo and A350 aircraft - 70 of which have just been ordered - as well as new versions of the Boeing 777. " We took the time to take stock of what our network will look like in five to ten years' time, our fleet and the type of aircraft" explained Tim Clark.

Rescue by lines in fifth freedom?

Jets will offer substantial fuel savings, but they will carry fewer passengers per flight, which means that complicates Emirates' operating modelwhich is based on waves of starts very close together in order to maximise transfer opportunities between flights. What's more, some major routes could eventually lose seat capacity. This is because it is becoming increasingly difficult toobtain time slots (The A380's slots were used for additional flights to numerous hubs such as London Heathrow, Milan Malpensa and Frankfurt. So the A380 was well-suited to this type of market.

While waiting for these new aircraft, how can the airline's current fleet be made more profitable? Emirates wants to increase the number of fifth freedom routes. The airline already offers a Dubai-New York flight in an A380 via Milan Malpensa, a Dubai-Athens-Newark flight in a Boeing 777, as well as flights on Dubai-Bangkok-Hong Kong and Dubai-Bangkok-Sydney in an Airbus A380. According to Tim Clark, however, there are opportunities on the transatlantic axis but the company will certainly have to face up to the resilience, even thehostility from American carriers.

Finally, to maximise its hub on short-haul routes from Dubai, Emirates has confirmed the development of synergies with the airline low cost FlyDubai with better integration of the two carriers' networks. However, no merger between the two airlines is currently planned.