Emirates Airline will continue with its growth trajectory in spite of global challenges like regional political instability, pandemic health issues in Africa and softening economic demand from dropping oil prices, a senior executive has said.
Speaking at the Aviation Festival Middle East, Anand Lakshminarayanan, divisional vice president route planning and economics said: “Countries recognise the importance of seamless global traffic flows and the multiplier effect to their own economies, and this has been instrumental in our own growth as an airline that attracts business and tourism opportunities.
“We will not deviate from our hub strategy and our future aircraft deliveries and orders are predicated on our non-stop services, connecting city pairs around the globe.”
On behalf of Emirates, Lakshminarayanan discussed profitable network growth, aero-political access, airport constraints and commercial partnerships. The core of Emirates network strategy and Dubai hub were also discussed at the festival, in addition to Emirates’ view on alliances and strategic partnerships.
He cited India as an example where Emirates services have brought positive economic benefits, where the 185 weekly frequencies allotted to the airline directly contribute $825 million to the local economy, according to a study by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
He said Emirates has also been able to capitalise on strategic alliances with Qantas, which has helped spur tourism into Dubai through the partnership.
Over 250,000 Australians visited Dubai last year, largely reflecting the convergence of both airlines’ networks, he said.
Emirates expects to fly 70 million passengers in 2020, and the airline together with its partners in Dubai are already progressing on plans to ensure the right infrastructure is in place to support and capitalise on this growth.
In May Emirates posted a 42.5 percent increase in profits to $887m in the last financial year, on the back of a 13 percent rise in revenue to $22.5bn.
Meanwhile, Emirates Group – of which the airline is a subsidiary – posted a 31.6 percent increase in profits to $1.1bn, helped by a 13.2 percent increase in revenues to $23.9bn.
The airline continues to work on various initiatives, in partnership with Dubai International Airport, to help ease slot congestion. Terminal 4, set to open in 2015, will also help to address overall capacity requirements at the airport.