Emirates cannot hold claim to the world’s longest route – a service from their hub in Dubai to Auckland, New Zealand – for much longer. Fellow Gulf carrier, Qatar Airways have announced their service from Doha to Auckland to begin in December.
The brand will pay homage to Oman’s deeply-rooted culture and long-standing history as an ambassador of peace was among eight names that were initially shortlisted from the poll following internal discussions by ASAAS Board Members and key government entities. A subsequent poll of around 3,000 then voted on the final selection.
The new service will provide 245,000 additional seats per year and is expected to generate an estimated 3,000 jobs in New South Wales and contribute more than AUD$240 million to the local economy. The new service will also provide 84 tonnes of cargo capacity per week in and out of the New South Wales (NSW) capital.
daa International, a subsidiary of daa – the Irish airport management company – has been chosen to operate the new terminal at King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh. The multi-million euro contract will see daa International manage and operate the new Terminal 5 facility.
With a partnership in place with Jet Airways, Gulf carrier, Etihad Airways has announced a more than 60 percent increased on full-year passenger traffic to and from India.
The Gulf carrier is both the world’s strongest and most valuable brand, with an increase of 17 percent from 2015. Emirates brand value is weighted at $7,743 million.
This new slot pair has been reportedly purchased from Air France-KLM and will provide an early morning scheduling option for the Middle East carrier and allow it to introduce a second daily rotation on the Muscat – London city pair.
Over the last decade, the city has emerged as an important passenger and cargo destination for the airline in the Indian sub-continent. Since the start of its operations, it has carried over two million passengers on the route and moved up to 105,000 tonnes of cargo in and out of Thiruvananthapuram.
Muscat International Airport broke the one million passenger per month milestone in August 2015 in a strong year of growth for the largest two airports in the Sultanate of Oman.
The hub for fast-expanding network carrier, Emirates Airline and base for growing low-cost operator, flydubai, witnessed a 10.7 per cent surge in international passenger numbers for 2015, helping it to remain the top spot, which it secured from London Heathrow earlier this decade.
The route will increase capacity by adding another daily flight from the airline’s hub in Abu Dhabi. Founded in 2004, the route has now carried over two million passengers.
The current longest route in the world is the Qantas operation between Sydney and Dallas Fort Worth. For a long time, Singapore Airlines had held the position of operating the world's longest scheduled flight, however, the closure of its non-stop links from Singapore to Los Angeles and New York after its retirement of its Airbus A340-500 fleet earlier this decade, has meant the Pacific connection of Qantas Airways between Sydney and Dallas, a 16 hour 55 minute, 8,500+ mile journey, took over as the longest commercial passenger route.
The new non-stop link between Doha and Yerevan will commence from May 15, 2016 with a four times weekly service being flown using an Airbus A320 configured in a two-class arrangement with 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy Class. The new route is understood have been facilitated by Qatar Airways’ network expansion across the US, a market which has strong links back into Armenia, but with limited current connectivity.
The route, which departs from Dubai, will see an increased capacity due to a replacement of aircraft. This increase will help to meet the growing demand on the route into the African countries.
The latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer highlights that growth in advanced economy destinations (up five per cent) exceeded that of emerging economies (up four per cent) in 2015, boosted by the solid results of Europe (up five per cent). By region, Europe, the Americas and Asia and the Pacific all recorded around five per cent growth in international arrivals in 2015, while the Middle East increased by three per cent while Africa saw an estimated three per cent decrease, mostly due to weak results in North Africa, which accounts for over one third of arrivals in the region.
According to OAG schedule data, ANA has accounted for more than a quarter (25.1 per cent) of all 787 flights since the aircraft’s debut offering almost 30 million Dreamliner seats (29,435,351 as of January 13, 2016).
Emirates launched operations between its Dubai International Airport hub and Washington’s Dulles International Airport in September 2012 initially utilising a 777-200LR, but switching to the larger 777-300ER from February 2013. Analysis of MIDT data shows just 16.1 per cent of demand during this six month period was local traffic, with transfer traffic via Dubai accounting for a massive 81.9 per cent of passengers (including 1.2 per cent in bridge traffic also connecting via Washington).
The second flight will complement the carrier’s existing A380 service on the route with a mid-afternoon departure from the UAE and a late night departure from the US. The carrier says it will serve the growing customer demand for travel between Dubai and western United States, as well as for those passengers connecting to Emirates’ vast global network of onward destinations.
Analysis of MIDT data shows that over 1.5 million O&D passengers a year fly in and out of Iran from/to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The market between the UAE and Iran is the largest at an estimated 1.35 million annual passengers, with around 100,000 annual passengers in the other markets.
Etihad Airways, a minority shareholder in German carrier airberlin, will still be able to put its code on a number of the German carrier's routes, but the court ruling means a temporary injunction granted last November, permitting the two airlines to continue all their codeshare flights through January 15, 2016 will end on that date.
Emirates has opened reservations for a new daily flight linking its Dubai International Airport hub with both Mactan–Cebu International Airport and Clark International Airport (formerly the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport) from the end of March 2016. The flight will operate on a triangular basis and will be flown using a two-class Boeing 777-300ER
In a move that will boost capacity in all three markets, the A380s will replace Boeing 777-300ERs during the first half of next year. Emirates will use a two-class A380 on one of its three daily flights between Dubai and Birmingham (EK039/040), while three-class examples will be deployed on its routes from Dubai to Prague and Taipei from May 1, 2016.
Etihad currently operates five 787-9s serving the markets of Brisbane, Washington, Singapore and Zurich from its Abu Dhabi International Airport hub. The type will become the UAE national carrier’s flagship long-haul aircraft in the coming years with a further 66 aircraft due to be delivered.
