According to a top official, Emirates Airlines will soon reach 100% of its pre-pandemic network usage since “demand is not slowing down from where we are today.” According to Emirates’ Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer, “Our aim is to enhance the frequency to Asia, which is key to our operating plan (for 2023, We also have our sights set on growing in Europe and Australia.”
The airline is getting “good replies” regarding travel demand from all of the major feeder markets, including the UK, India, Pakistan, Germany, China, and Australia. According to Kazim, “it offers us a really optimistic picture of the future.”
By December 2022, Emirates’ capacity had increased to 80% of its pre-pandemic levels, and the network’s services had reached 95% of its pre-pandemic levels. By adding more flights to nations with lower frequency, the airline hopes to restore network and capacity levels to their pre-pandemic levels this year.
Emirates, the largest Airbus A380 operator in the world, intends to accomplish this by putting its whole fleet of 118 super-jumbos back into service. 85 of the A380 fleet’s aircraft are currently in use. Additionally, the fleet is undertaking a $2B ambitious refit effort.
Emirates stands to earn more now that flying to China is becoming more accessible because its flights to the Indian subcontinent have nearly fully recovered. Beijing opened borders that had been virtually closed since the COVID-19 epidemic began on January 8. “We used to operate on 35 frequencies with all the A380s to three locations in China, namely Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing, with an average double-daily operation,” stated Kazim. At the moment, we run weekly flights to Guangzhou with a layover in Bangkok.
Due to China’s COVID-19 requirements for cabin crew, which have since been relaxed, the layover in Thailand was instituted. After January 11, there are three times a week direct flights from Guangzhou to Dubai. With the minimal capacity they have available right now, they’re already seeing a jump in demand, and things will be very different in the months to come, according to the latest reports. Due to the Chinese New Year, demand should increase by the end of January.
In the early days after the pandemic, the airline recovered its routes and capacity to the Indian subcontinent. They returned to an approximately 200% recovery in key markets including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, which demonstrates how crucial these markets are to Emirates’ feeder and point-to-point traffic, said Kazim according to Gulf News.
The focus will also be on expanding frequency to destinations with once-daily flights since Asia, Australia, and Europe are eating up a significant portion of Emirates’ capacity ramp-up. For instance, Kazim added, “We intend to enhance the double-daily frequency to thrice-daily.” This will improve network connectivity and reinforce our hub. Emirates also intends to expand its capabilities in South Africa. “We are trying to deploy twice-daily operations to Cape Town and three times-daily flights to Johannesburg. Additionally, we will increase capacity to Durban,” Kazim added.
