Emirates takes swipe at rivals
Emirates president Tim Clark has warned established rivals that they risk going bust if they rely on old alliances that are coming unstuck in a fast-changing world.
Speaking at Arabian Travel Market this week, Clark said that in just seven years from now Emirates would be 50-80% bigger than it is today.
And he warned rivals that the old ways of doing business and "patchwork quilts" of airline alliances were coming "unglued" in the face of a changing industry.
"You must go where your new markets are, you must react to those markets, and you must design your products to fit what is happening whether you like it or not.
"Because, if you don’t move at the pace they want you to move at, then you will perish," he warned.
Europe remains a "fortress" Clark said, and he called the fact the airline is not permitted to fly to Berlin "a pity".
"It’s not just our loss, it is a loss to the German travelling public," he said.
His words came a month after Etihad boss James Hogan also criticised legacy airlines and their alliances, saying they have outlived their usefulness.
By Ian Jarrett, TravelMole Asia Pacific
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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