Gulf companies

The A380 has been the cornerstone of Emirates' strategy for 20 years. But the Airbus has also meant that Emirates has missed out on a number of opportunities... In particular, services to secondary cities, an option that Emirates has often had to forego, with a fleet of high-capacity long-haul aircraft. So, for the past nine months, the airline has been fine-tuning a...

What's new for Qatar Airways in the French market? Sylvain Bosc - This year has been a busy one for the airline in France, with the launch of the A350-900 in Nice on 31 March: an ultra-modern aircraft, the first of its type to serve Nice airport. In addition, on 31...

It's a necessary evil, but one that is likely to inconvenience passengers on the Emirates network until 30 May. The carrier is having to adjust its flight operations as Dubai International airport's southern runway closes for maintenance work from 16 April. Emirates has therefore announced adjustments to its...

Qatar Airways is growing faster than ever, despite an environment that its CEO, the pugnacious Akbar Al Baker, describes as "complicated, particularly because of the illegal blockade orchestrated by our neighbours", he declared during the ITB Berlin press conference. "We are losing money because the blockade can add up to...

Are we witnessing a normalisation in the management of Gulf airlines? Emirates had just announced that it was giving up on the Airbus A380, abandoning its status as a carrier equipped only with wide-body jets, and now Etihad has announced that it too has cancelled an order for aircraft. The Abu Dhabi-based airline, a rival of Emirates, has indicated that it is in talks with Airbus...

Not surprisingly, Airbus announced on Thursday the end of the A380 programme, and the date of the last delivery. Reviewing its flight plan, Emirates has decided to make a strategic shift, swapping its very large aircraft for smaller, easier to fill aircraft. "The consequence of this...

It was barely twelve years ago that the Airbus A380 made its first commercial flight, under the colours of Singapore Airlines. Its days now seem numbered. In fact, this aircraft, which can carry up to 600 passengers, has been only half a success. It is only present in the fleets of 15 international airlines worldwide, including Air France in Europe,...

We might as well say it straight away: the 'boutique airline' concept - which implies a kind of exclusivity in the services or network offered - is not a Gulf Air creation: many carriers are already positioning themselves in this marketing niche. In Asia, for example, the Thai regional carrier Bangkok Airways has been...

Following in the footsteps of La Compagnie, Virgin Atlantic, Norwegian, WestJet and Singapore Airlines, another airline heavyweight is set to join Worldwide by easyJet. On Wednesday, the low-cost carrier announced the arrival of Emirates, scheduled for "the coming months". "We are delighted to be joining easyJet's Worldwide programme, which will enable us to offer travellers, together, a...

Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, is not known for mincing his words. And in recent weeks, his wrath has been directed at the Oneworld alliance, which Qatar Airways joined in 2013. The CEO of Qatar Airways has expressed his frustration at being part of a group which, in fact, does not allow him to satisfy his...

The anecdote would certainly make you smile. At the beginning of July, the American news agency Bloomberg published a very serious article about the reduction in the surface area of aircraft cabins... toilets. In reference, Delta Air Lines was the first, back in 2014, to use a narrower model on its domestic and regional routes. The...

Etihad's financial situation - severely damaged by the carrier's unfortunate investments in "lame ducks" - and the fierce competition with its competitor Emirates and rival Qatar Airways, are weighing on the future of the Abu Dhabi carrier. A few months ago, the rating agency Fitch indicated that the airline...

Abu Dhabi's national airline, Etihad Airways, is known to be facing management difficulties, due in particular to its past investments in financially fragile airlines. The shareholder saw its subsidiaries AirBerlin and Etihad Regional (formerly Darwin Airlines) disappear last year and withdrew from Alitalia. The austerity cure...

Over the last few years, Emirates has focused particularly on improving its First and Business Class products. In First Class, the airline has consolidated its reputation with suites and in particular the possibility of taking a shower during the flight, a unique service in air transport until now. The airline has just...

Over the past year and a half, Etihad has increasingly resembled a 'normal' airline, one for which profitability is the key criterion of its business. After years of unbridled expansion in terms of its network and fleet, and after the unsuccessful takeover of European airlines Alitalia and Airberlin, Etihad has drawn the...

Business travellers in Oman Air's Business or First class now have access to the new Premium lounge inaugurated by the carrier at Muscat airport. On the programme: business centre, restaurants, bars, baggage room, entertainment area, smoking area, children's room, nap room, showers and wellness area. [caption id="attachment_73883" align="aligncenter" width="700"]...

Qatar Airways announced on Monday that it had reached an agreement to buy 378,188,000 shares in Cathay Pacific. The Qatari company is thus acquiring 9.61% of Cathay's capital. immense potential for the future The directors of Qatar Airways are therefore affirming their confidence in the Asian carrier. "Qatar Airways is very pleased to finalise...

It's 2010 and British Airways has noticed that its image as an innovative player, which had largely characterised it in the 90s, is beginning to fade. The airline felt that it needed a serious marketing overhaul, and that year it revived the slogan that had long accompanied its image: "To Fly. To Serve". This tarnished aura...

Has the Doha hub been reorganised following the isolation of Qatar and the rerouting of flights via new air routes? Have connections suffered? Have passenger transfers and general passenger traffic been affected? Salam Al Shawa - Apart from the four countries...

Crises are sometimes a good thing. They force governments to take radical decisions, especially when a country's economy or prosperity is at stake. The severing of diplomatic relations with Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen has effectively isolated the micro-Emirate geographically. But what about?