Emirates Airlines bullish on RP, AsPac prospects

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Top officials of Emirates Airline have expressed confidence on positive developments in the Philippines and in the Asia-Pacific region as well, that could boost business both for the airline industry and the company.

In an interview with The STAR, Emirates executive vice-president for commercial operations worldwide Ghaith Al Ghaith said that in the Philippines, developments have been positive that could augur well for Emirates’ operations in this part of the globe.

"We have been receiving more and more flights periodically and the response from the Philippine government has been very good," he said. Emirates technically has 10 flights to the Philippines – five using Philippine Airlines (PAL) entitlements under a commercial agreement and five under Emirates’ own entitlement.

Al Ghaith said the Far East is one of the fast-growing regions for Emirates, with revenues growing by as much as 49 percent despite difficulties in the first quarter of 2003 on the aftermath of the SARS epidemic.

The UAE and Philippine governments are supposed to review the entitlements last month, but the bilateral air talks may have to wait until after the May elections, according to the Philippines’ Civil Aeronautics Board.

Emirates chairman and Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said he sees huge opportunities for growth in the region. For instance, Thailand is expected to compete as a major hub in the region (Singapore currently is the main hub in the region with the most flights) following the signing of an open sky policy between Thailand and UAE. The airline is also opening more flights to Shanghai, China.

Emirates Airline has announced a record net profit of $429 million for the financial year 2003-04 ending March 31. This represents a 73.5-percent improvement over last year’s net profit. The airline’s revenues also reached a best-ever $3.6 billion, which is up 37 percent from last year.

UAE’s official airline carried 10.4 million passengers during the financial year, an increase of almost two million passengers or 23 percent more than the year before, and 660,000 tons of freight, up 26 percent.

He said during a news conference here that the group’s strong performance once again confirms not just that they are on the right track but also that they are doing their part to help government realize its aggressive master plan for Dubai’s development.

He noted that the group once again managed to buck the trend of in the travel industry which stagnated for the first three or four months of 2003 over SARS, the conflict in Iraq, and the weak global economy.

In outlining the reasons for the group’s strong growth, Sheikh Ahmed reaffirmed the integral part Dubai plays in the success of the Emirates Group. In commenting on "the recipe for the company’s continued success," he singled out "the leveraging of Dubai’s location as a global hub and of the government’s ambitious development program, their multi-billion dollar investment in new equipment and, crucially, the skill and dedication of its team."

Sheikh Ahmed also noted that Emirates is not considering on joining any of the existing airline alliances at the moment "although we are not ruling this out." He said that some alliances, in fact, are not doing so well.

For 2004-05, he expects Emirates to increase its capacity by 26 percent and to open new routes to the US, China and Europe. Emirates’ fleet stood at 67 (including five freighters) as of March 31, serving 75 destinations in 53 countries. He expects the fleet to grow to 139 aircrafts, including eight freighters by 2011.

The International Association of Travel Agencies (IATA) is forecasting worldwide growth of seven to eight percent in worldwide passenger traffic in 2004.