Want to fly an A380? Emirates CEO Wants 130 A380s

[saviboy]

Does it pay more? Better skds? hotter FA's? If not, then who gives a sh!t?

I have to agree with that. One would assume that aircraft type would only matter to kids out of flight school but unfortunately I see guys making the wrong decisions time and time again just to fly a new toy. 380/350/787/777...etc...same sh#t....
I fly a 340 in my airline and I have guys telling me to go to the 777. When I ask them why should i do that since I 'll have the same ********************ty QOL and same money, they tell me that it's because it's a "real pilot's plane"...
and then I want to smack them behind the head...

 

[johnsonrod]

Emirates Chief Says 30 More A380s Needed for New Routes

Just found this update on Pprune and copied it:



Emirates Chief Says 30 More A380s Needed for New Routes
By David Fickling & Kari Lundgren - Jan 7, 2013 8:10 AM ET

Emirates, the world’s biggest airline by international traffic, said it’s studying “ways and means” to accommodate an order for 30 more Airbus SAS A380 superjumbos.

Curfews at destination airports and a lack of space at the carrier’s Dubai base are the main constraints on lifting an existing order for 90 of the world’s biggest passenger planes to 120, President Tim Clark said today in an interview.

Emirates, the biggest A380 customer, has exploited the Gulf’s position at the heart of inter-continental flight paths to build a hub served by waves of departures, stripping traffic away from older network carriers in Europe and Asia. Clark said he’s mulling superjumbo flights to locations including Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco as in-service enhancements to a model introduced in 2007 bring the cities within range.

“We know what we want to do, we know where we could put more than 90 A380s today,” the executive said by telephone from Dubai. “It’s a question of can we actually fit them in? The economics of Houston are very powerful. That would be an extremely attractive proposition.”

Water Tanks

Airbus has boosted the superjumbo’s performance by adding refinements such as a more aerodynamic wing profile. Emirates A380s flying today are already three or four tons lighter than when the carrier took its first planes, and other improvements from the Toulouse, France-based manufacturer are likely once fixes for wing cracks have been fully introduced, Clark said.

Emirates has meanwhile driven efficiencies via measures of its own such as curtailing water usage, Clark said. Only about 60 percent of the water carried on its A380s -- which feature onboard showers -- is actually used, and shrinking the tank could save four tons in weight.

Emirates added 15 destinations last year, including Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Seattle. The carrier also introduced a fifth daily A380 flight to London on Dec. 10, and has already this year announced extra superjumbo flights to New York John F. Kennedy and Paris Charles de Gaulle airports.

Adding long-haul routes can quickly “gobble up” new planes, Clark said, with a single daily frequency to Houston alone requiring 2.5 aircraft, making additional orders desirable.

Crowded Terminals

While the scope for new destinations is increasing, limited airport opening hours elsewhere and pressure on terminal capacity in Dubai are constraining growth, Clark said.

The opening on Jan. 2 of the first four of 20 A380-only gates at Dubai International Airport has been factored in to existing fleet plans, and landing slots and airspace over the United Arab Emirates may become scarce as Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways PJSC and budget carrier FlyDubai add flights, he said.

“The airspace management around us, that’s proving to be quite complex,” Clark said. “We’ve got many carriers in the U.A.E. growing at quite a pace.”

In the U.S., Emirates has commercial relationships with JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) at Kennedy and Alaska Airlines in Seattle which allow for connecting flights, and Clark said he aims to “push into other points” with the former. Integrated schedules would allow for easier transfers, though the airlines need to be “careful” about antitrust and pricing issues, he said.

AMR Aim

Emirates is still seeking a deeper relationship with AMR Corp. (AAMRQ)’s American Airlines, Clark said, though the U.S. company’s management is focused on discussions about a merger with U.S. Airways Group as it plans to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

“It’s very much in the American Airlines bailiwick at the moment,” he said. “You know, you can take a horse to water, but that’s as far as we’ve gone.”

The two airlines already direct passengers to one another without a code-share arrangement, though he said it would be “very good” to have closer commercial ties, Clark said.

India Averse

The executive said that Emirates isn’t interested in bidding for a carrier in India following the relaxation of ownership rules there, even as Etihad considers investing in Jet Airways (India) Ltd. or Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. (KAIR)

“It’s a difficult operating environment,” Clark said. “It’s very difficult to get the job done. If the Indians themselves can’t make a go of it, who can? It’s not just operational control, financial control, its human resource, people control.”

India would be more attractive were outside bidders to be “fire-walled” against certain eventualities, as Emirates was when investing in SriLankan Airlines in 1998, Clark said, adding that such a plan would most likely be politically unacceptable.

Emirates also continues to favour tactical partnerships of the kind sealed in September with Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN), the biggest Australian airline, over membership of one of the industry’s three global alliances, Clark said. That’s after Qatar Airways Ltd., the second-biggest Gulf carrier, said in October it would join the British Airways-led Oneworld group.

“We’re fairly simplistic in our execution of our business model,” he said. “I’ve lived and breathed this airline since we started. The notion that we should allow others to chart our destiny is anathema to the thinking certainly of me and others.”

To contact the reporters on this story: David Fickling in Sydney at [email protected]; Kari Lundgren in London at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at [email protected]; Benedikt Kammel at [email protected]




Emirates Chief Says 30 More A380s Needed for New Routes - Bloomberg

 

[fareview]

Either Emirates is totally visionary in their approach to growth with this airplane or it will be a complete disaster of the largest airline failure in history. It sure seems to be in stark contrast to every other airline. What does Emirates envision that no other airline worldwide can see?

What is the saying? Go big or go home.

JK,

This is not a vision, it's the new reality.

Dubai lies in the middle of massive population centers that have no discernible competition re. destinations and service to EK.

The first is 1.4bn Indians heading west, the second is 1.2bn Africans heading NW, North & East.. So without even talking about Oz, EU, CIS & the Americas...you have a market of 2.6bn that EK has penetrated rather well.

Let me just throw a few one stop city pairs that LH, BA, DL etc cannot effectively compete on and you will get a sense of what this is about.

NCL-ADL
LAD-HKT
GIG-CAN
DUB-EBB
GRU-MNL
HYD-LIS
CMN-TEH
ALG-BNE

And the list goes on.

The EK model is simple, cheap labor, good product...but most importantly...geographic location.

Ask any EK pilot...we are packed ...not just pax...loads of cargo.

Long may it continue.

fv

 

[gutshotdraw]

Fareview,

How is life at Emirates, aside from the flourishing business model? Schedules? Basing options? Upgrade time? Work rules? Pay? Co-workers?

Thanks in advance for sharing.

 

[Varmint]

Fareview,

How is life at Emirates, aside from the flourishing business model? Schedules? Basing options? Upgrade time? Work rules? Pay? Co-workers?

Thanks in advance for sharing.

Gutshot,

42 Paid vacation days per year....(6 weeks).

Boeing schedules range from 10 - 18 days off per month.

1 month of reserve roughly every year

Dubai is the only Base.

Upgrade is running from 3-6 years depending on fleet and flight time.

Work rules....can be changed at a moments notice but it doesn't happen very often. The biggest change a few years ago was that productivity pay went from flying over 72 hours to flying over 92 hours which was a big change for the negative.

Pay....very good....the whole package is excellent including the retirement contributions.

Co-workers....most are really decent guys. Of course you have a few bad eggs in the basket but they are few and far between.

 

[gutshotdraw]

Thanks Varmint. Any regrets?

Seriously considering leaving the US for lots of reasons and just wondering if Emirates is a viable option.

 

[overseas boy]

Agree with what Varmint says and no regrets at the moment. Great equipment, great colleagues for the most part and certainly a vast improvement in working environment from a few years ago under a different "manager".

Your profile seems to suggest you're from the corporate side of flying, if so EK may be a little more difficult, they don't seem to like that background and seem to recruit "airline" type guys. I've not heard of a corporate type guy in several years but hope to be corrected.

 

[gutshotdraw]

I am from a corporate/fractional background but I have plenty of worldwide experience on long-range equipment. I'm probably too old for them though so any international jump would likely have to be to Asia on one of the dozens of Gulfstreams flooding that part of the world. But thanks for the answers nonetheless.

 

[Varmint]

Thanks Varmint. Any regrets?

Seriously considering leaving the US for lots of reasons and just wondering if Emirates is a viable option.

The only regret I have is having to deal with an unforgiving anal retentive training department. They seem to work against the line pilots rather than with the line pilots. If you fart the wrong way in the simulator, the instructors will write it on the form for the company to see. Gone are the days of hearing "great job, nice safe flight...keep up the good work". Here even the most minor mistake is written down and turned into a reason to grade you down on your overall session.

I do have to say things are changing but very slowly.

 

[Dumb Pilot]

The only regret I have is having to deal with an unforgiving anal retentive training department. They seem to work against the line pilots rather than with the line pilots. If you fart the wrong way in the simulator, the instructors will write it on the form for the company to see. Gone are the days of hearing "great job, nice safe flight...keep up the good work". Here even the most minor mistake is written down and turned into a reason to grade you down on your overall session.

I do have to say things are changing but very slowly.

Regrettably this is a trade of many jobs abroad, there is basically no training but rather checking from day one and you are left to figure things out on your own.