Emirates aims for 120 A380s... See Reuters Article

[Varmint]

that they may also be able to abuse their employees in the manner that Emirates has?

I get driven to and picked up from work, a free house, my bills paid, kids school paid for, went from 11-12 days off a month in the US to 15-18 days off a month, and I don't have to sit on a 3 hour break after every round trip on a 14 hour duty day (I have a bunk to go to sleep in on my break).......oh my god, I am so abused.

 

[Dave Grohl]

Fortunately AF, BA and LH also serve Canada (I think AF now operates an A380 to Montreal daily from CDG - what's up with that???? Can't people also transit through CDG on their way to Pakistan and India?) so Canadians aren't completely held hostage by AC and its comparative crap service.

Lots of Air Canada bashing going on here...ever actually flown on AC recently (or at all?):

http://www.worldairlineawards.com/Awards-2010/namerica.htm



http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/media/facts/awards/

 

[Gillegan]

I get driven to and picked up from work, a free house, my bills paid, kids school paid for, went from 11-12 days off a month in the US to 15-18 days off a month, and I don't have to sit on a 3 hour break after every round trip on a 14 hour duty day (I have a bunk to go to sleep in on my break).......oh my god, I am so abused.

Varmint,
I'm glad things are working out for the better for you and far be it for me to pass judgement on how this may compare with what you are coming from. That said, surely you must be aware that many here do not enjoy the 15-18 days off that you are and that there are no mechanisms in place to level the playing field here somewhat. While I'm at it, I'm pretty sure that flight time factoring is not in use in the US (some of our pilots are flying in excess of 120 hours per month - unfactored) and I would personally be happy to have the 11-12 days off a month that you had back home. I have not gotten the leave that is part of my contract and the leave that I have gotten is not enough for me to get back to my home country and see the rest of my family.

There is a very real problem here with overwork and fatigue and if you are not one of the recipients of our hosts largesse, then good on you. Many here do not find it so rosy and I would venture that I've been here a tad longer than you have. If you personally do not feel abused, then who am I to say otherwise but conversely, many of us here do feel that this is not the gig that we signed up for and at the very least, expect our employer to honor the commitments that they set down on paper.

 

[Regional4life]

Just to be completely honest, especially for anyone wanting facts about Emirates and reading this, what fleet are you on? I seriously doubt that you are getting 15 to 18 days off per month, consistently, without vacation. It's been right around 4 years now since I've had an 18 day off month without vacation. Are you counting rest days in that as well? And is your child's schooling completely paid for?

At least give accurate information about Emirates. Lots of people like it here, each situation is different. If you are honestly getting that many days off consistently, it's not due to the roster. You're swapping or calling in sick or using vacation. Rosters are not consistently 15 to 18 days off a month, (I'm strictly speaking from Boeing, as that's what I'm on).

If your school is completely paid for, good on you. The majority of pilots here with kids do not have 100% of the schooling paid. Most are paying in, especially since no schooling allowance adjustment in over 2 years, and most schools are consistently raising prices by 10% each year.

And I'm not saying that you are abused here or that you don't like it. As stated, lots of people like it. To each their own. Just be accurate with info.

 

[Varmint]

Just to be completely honest, especially for anyone wanting facts about Emirates and reading this, what fleet are you on? I seriously doubt that you are getting 15 to 18 days off per month, consistently, without vacation. It's been right around 4 years now since I've had an 18 day off month without vacation. Are you counting rest days in that as well? And is your child's schooling completely paid for?

I am on boeing as well and I counted my rest days as well because I am off and at home. The schooling is paid for per the contract and I pay roughly 900 extra dollars per year for two kids because of the 90% coverage past 17k dhs. Not bad for private education and if my last post was misleading, then I do apologize. I found a good American curriculum school that has gotten bad marks from the dubai government because they do not emphasize islamic education enough. I could care less about that. The rest of their marks in language, math, and science are all good in the school report. I would tend to agree with you that everyone has thier own opinion and I came here expecting to work and still look at it from the glass is half full side. Maybe you have past that transition point and I have not, and hopefully wont.

At least give accurate information about Emirates. Lots of people like it here, each situation is different. If you are honestly getting that many days off consistently, it's not due to the roster. You're swapping or calling in sick or using vacation. Rosters are not consistently 15 to 18 days off a month, (I'm strictly speaking from Boeing, as that's what I'm on).

As I said before, I counted rest days because I am home and consider them a day off, personally. Not trying to be inaccurate, just trying to give information from my perspective. Its fine if you don't agree, opinions are like a-holes, everybody has them. I think its all in how you look at it in the end.

Cheers

 

[fareview]

I've lived in London, Frankfurt and Dubai as well as Asia and N.America.

I would definitely take Dubai over Frankfurt - no question.

London over Dubai except for taxes hence I am here.

Couple of discussion points (and this is not an advertisement to come here – too many personal factors to take into account for this forum):

EK V. AC.
Capt. U. the fact that Ottawa is protecting AC checkmates your point - pure protectionism.

EK's fuel prices: what ever is true nobody knows but they do pay 50% of their fuel costs at market prices at outstations. Bear in mind that they accommodate 11000+ cabin crew and 2500 pilots not to mention mgt and engineers. Transport is also provided for all crew, I digress

The impending over-capacity at EK with the arriving 92 A380's (not sure where the 120 no. came from - not true) needs closer analysis:
EK got these aircraft at rock bottom prices - if you heard the whisper # on campus you would'nt believe it. EADS future was on the line unless they could move 380's - they had only one option: dump inventory to an airline that would be able to utilize them in their network. Over the next 30 years the population growth in the urban areas will double. Largely from Asia & Africa.

Now EK can easily utilize 92 380's, after all the seat increase over a 77W in some cases is only 67 extra seats...back of the envelope say a 20-25% increase in capacity if they replace the aging 777's...compared to a 30-50% increase in global demand. To give an idea - at its height ANA/JAL had over 100 747's operating in their fleets during the 90's. So if demand materializes on the plus side EK keeps the 777/330/340 longer. If it does not then the retirement of these and the delivery of the 380/350's's can be accelerated/slowed respectively.

Throughout EK's history there has been a rich vein of skepticism which in fairness needs to be taken into account. That said the one area in which they are universally respected is managements ability to execute a successful business plan (sometimes sans finesse...grrr!)

I am not defending the ethics of the Emirate or the airline but I can tell you this: I would never bet against their ability to manage their mission; particularly (because of no unions) their ability to react quickly to a crisis changing market.

So if you bet against them; you were right once (1986) out of the their 25 yrs in business,,,but I suspect the the naysayers will be singing the same old time tested tune in May when EK announces $2bn+ in profit..."just wait 'til next year"...

....still waiting.

respectfully,

fv

 

[fareview]

Q1 & Q2 = $925m Net.

Announced yesterday.

fv

 

[Cpt. Underpants]

Nobody implied strangling local carriers wasn't profitable...

 

[johnsonrod]

Nobody implied strangling local carriers wasn't profitable...

Does that include offering a far better product? From what I have seen/heard, EK offers fantastic service relative to most competitors. If I had the money, I'd use the bar and showers on those A380s... Not many airlines can compete with that high service standard - hence, the barriers to competition in some cases.

 

[Dumb Pilot]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This is the list of the top ten airlines in the world in service published by Conde' Nast Traveler[/FONT]

1) Singapore Airlines
2) Ethiad Airways
3) Emirates
4) Virgin Australia
5) Virgin Atlantic
6) Cathay Pacific
7) Korean Air
8) Air New Zealand
9) ANA
10) JAL


[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The parameters that they used were: Cabin comfort, Cabin service, Entertainment options, Food/Beverage, Ticketing/Ground service. Not really that many point separated number one from number ten so any of these airlines will give you a very pleasant experience[/FONT]