As I have stated before and pasted analyst remarks too, the US is at a Geographical Advantage. The ME Airlines affect the European and SE Asian airlines, because the UAE is in between Australia and Europe, and everything else in between. Not a big deal for US Carriers. US passengers will NOT fly to the UAE to go to Europe, Asia, Africa, or South America. Nope. The main passenger connections through the ME will be Indians and Pakistanis, because they are in a straight line and it might be a shorter route to go through the ME and connect to the USA. That's it....
Now, the UAE airlines can TRY European flights etc and then onto the US. The analyst in the article I brought up correctly stated that those airlines have stated intentions to go from places like Birmingham, England to Boston. If United can't fill a larger plane than a 757 to a large hub like Newark, how will an EK 777-300ER fill up? Doubtful.
JetBlue code sharing with Etihad at JFK or Emirates at BOS isn't surprising either. How many extra seats are there on an A320 or E190 for those connections? Can an A380 park at the JB terminal at either airport? Business pax don't want to change terminals after customs, they prefer seamless travel. The local family coming to the US to see their daughter, they might not care. They also bought cheap tickets. And as I stated, the connection in the ME will be Indian and Pakistani passengers, not people from anywhere else. JAL now flies 787s from Narita to Boston. The World is opening up, and not many will go through the ME to get to Syracuse via EK and JB. DL had 75 cities under code share with Korean Air through ATL alone, but that was recently dropped because DL and KE got into a turf spat. It doesn't always work out....
The EXIM Bank has curtailed the free loans to the UAE thanks to DL and ALPA shining a light on the situation. Now that bank has to state publicly who they offer those loans to, and Congress has gotten involved. Not as easy to do anymore. I doubt the ME airlines want to not order Boeings either (even though their CEOs threatened not to). Did you know that the A380 is built in France and Germany, and both countries restrict how many cities EK and EY can fly to in their countries? They don't get unlimited cities, even though they ordered A380s. Why? Because the ME airlines don't have a choice! They can have a tantrum and go buy Antanov A124s I guess. That would be hilarious.
Get my point? Geographic advantage. The future is in alliances. DL, AA, and UAL are also finally making bucks thanks to Consolidation and fees, and can defend turf and go on the offensive at the same time. Also, there are still majority owning rights even in Europe. Air Berlin is 49% owned by Etihad, with Alitalia next maybe. Virgin Atlantic is 49% owned by Delta, but you don't see Delta ordering them around. It helps with connections and code shares, but that's it. Alliances still rule, and even Qatari just joined the One World Alliance. It's all expected.
The ME airlines can buy all the planes they want, but the US passenger doesn't want to go there first, and then onto Europe or Asia. Nah.....
Bye Bye---General Lee
PS---also notice a guy or girl like Scoot 11 couldn't come up with any analysis like this, way over "it's" head... It's an idiot...
