Emirates ready to rule the world
Analysts have been looking at the decision by Emirates airline to purchase 32 A380s and have come to the conclusion that it marks a hugely significant move that will reverberate through the aviation sector.
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) consultancy says the purchase of an additional 32 of the superjumbos “will indelibly stamp the UAE carrier as a page-turner in the history of aviationâ€.
CAPA goes on to say, “The size both of the order and of the eventual bulk of Emirates Airline itself is significant enough to make irreversible the airline industry’s transformation from a heavily regulated, nationalistic anachronism to something approaching a real business.
“No longer can traditional competitors hope to stave off this threat to the status quo, as they have been hoping in recent years, while the airline expanded threateningly.
“This order marks a genuine turning point in that process of change. It is so large in fact that competitors’ business plans will be reshaped by it.â€
Even with the prospect of having 90 of the superjumbo jets in its fleet by the end of 2017, Emirates also is considering adding A380s that have an even larger seating capacity.
Emirates president Tim Clark said his airline would be interested in buying a stretched version of the A380 that can seat about 1,000 passengers, a model Airbus said it may consider building sometime in the future.”
Reuters quotes Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber as saying, “It is already to many of us a miracle that Emirates now already has more seats on intercontinental routes than Air France and BA together with a relatively small home market.
“One must assume that this is not an investment for the UAE (United Arab Emirates), but it is an investment for the world.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was on hand in Berlin this week to witness the signing ceremony.
Aviation Week notes, “Emirates placed the order at a time it is heavily lobbying Berlin for additional traffic rights to expand its network; a move Lufthansa is vehemently opposing.”
In Germany, more than 30 major suppliers are directly feeding into the A380 program. Airbus noted that the A380 program alone adds an estimated 40,000 direct, indirect and induced German jobs.
CAPA summed up, “It means that the stilted battle between, on the one hand, Europe’s flag carriers arguing for protection from outside challenges, and, on the other, Emirates highlighting that these orders have even larger positive implications for national economies, is probably lost forever.
“Chancellor Merkel will have few qualms in supporting advanced access for Emirates when it next comes knocking.
“The same will necessarily apply to President Sarkozy. The value of new skilled manufacturing jobs outweighs any plea for maintaining the status quo.â€
by Ian Jarrett
Ian Jarrett
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