Emirates faces a pilot strike, rising oil, geopolitical instability all around its home hub... With planes flying further, do people need to stopover anymore?
Don’t believe what they saying , I’m x cabin crew with emirates I just resigned , the pilots are going under big roster demands even the crew extreme fatigue and rosters changes , I just had to make choice and say no to slavery . If crash happens it’s because of fatigue . Nothing else
Emirates built a business model of connecting Asia to Europe and USA, but with newer long range planes like 777, 350, allow passengers to bypass Dubai hub and fly direct. As Asian economy grows, local airlines will operate longer international routes directly - like China is doing today.
I suspect aircraft such as the A321neoLR also create opportunities to bypass hubs by making it economically viable to fly point to point on thinner routes.
And in 2020 oil prices were below zero, pilots are fired because almost all flights were cancelled.... What a lovely report back then, Richard, I really hope soon we will have same topics and worries as back then
I go to Australia and New Zealand a lot and love Emirates but the downside is they are just so big now. On my last trip I struggled to find a seat in the business lounge at Dubai and gave up on the idea of trying to get a drink or food. Its a restful comfortable experience in the air sadly it is not on the ground
You should choose Air India now. They will give good competition to the likes of Emirates, Qatar, Turkish and Singapore Airlines. They are also building great hubs in Noida and Navi Mumbai which will be world class airports.
It’s not just the pilots who are overworked, so are the cabin crew. Their rota’s are ridiculous, breaking aviation rules, but Emirates just pay the fine and carry on overworking the staff without giving them enough rest in between flights. There have been two suicides, one involving a member of the cabin crew jumping off the plane in Entebbe earlier this year. Emirates tried to cover it up as an accident, but not before they made attempts to stop the story being published in the first place. The poor girl held a glass bottle under her neck and jumped and they wanted people to believe this was an accident? You aren’t allowed to be ill, either, for fear of being sacked. Neither can you put on weight. Emirates focus on recruiting new, fresh staff, systematically working the experienced staff to the bone so they just leave. This means the new staff don’t know too much about the culture so they can continue operating under these poor conditions. Emirates focus on the customer is to the detriment of the staff and that isn’t right at all. People used to wear fur coats because they love how they look and feel, until they find out how their fur coat was made. Once people begin to realise the suffering that goes on to provide them with a first class service with Emirates, maybe then something will change?
I flew to dubai last June first time in Emirates and it was horrible! It was so unexpected considering its Emirates. The plane was cramped and dirty and even cabin crew looked unkept😣 on my way back, saw the Asian Attendant and her uniform just look untidy i dunno. The chairs were old, and the worst thing is: the bathroom had a damage platform that when I tried to pick a tissue, the whole platform just fell thru😨 needless to say, im flying with Qatar Airways on December✈
Billy Carvalho because I'm in the industry. I have met several that have moved back to States. Nothing but horror stories. Not sure if the Brits and Aussies are leaving.
Brits are leaving for lowcost back in UK as well as far as I know. Emirates used to be a place to make some pretty decent money as a pilot, but with rising costs of living in Dubai, thats not the case anymore. Especially when working yourself to death on those rosters
What does Emirates make the largest airline in the world? It's 13th according to total passengers, 4th in scheduled passenger miles flown, 7th number of countries served. It only ranks 1st in international passenger miles flown which doesn't make it the largest airline in the world at all. Poor research or just unlucky phrasing.
Thank you, I was also asking myself the same question after I heard what he said. I was like " what ?" . Made the research and you are right to correct him.
they were too optimistic with the 380 procurement. they would be much better off cancelling the rest of the a380 order, and replace it with a the a350 and 787. With plans of having a mega order for the 777X.
Peter Wakeman not really, I know a girl from UK that was fired on her first flight because a passenger complained (common tactic to get upgrade to business). I also know a Pilot that was reported for carrying a bottle of water. I believe the service is good like you say tho.
CS Wong Customer is always right. See this article in the Guardian it describes the sort of behaviour experienced. www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/26/man-removed-from-indian-plane-after-entering-cockpit-to-charge-phone. As for the pilot carrying water it apparently is not becoming of a pilots reputation to be seen carrying loose articles. Cabin manager reported him 🙈
Ivan Mv A380 roster is the best option. B777 is a bit of a killer. Look at PPRUNE Middle East to see from those who work there and trying to escape. Some enjoy, but appears they have issues retaining pilots, must be a reason.
John Paul it’s not the pilots, it’s Emirates and it’s culture of fear. Fatigue is a big concern also of to why people are leaving in large numbers. People are fed up, so fed up even the likes of Ryanair and Jet2 have also held roadshows in Dubai as they know pilots are looking to escape.
From what I read, it's Emirate's brutal schedules. They overwork their pilots, but since the whole region's airlines do that, they are trapped in the middle of an airline culture in which that is acceptable
Improved range and P2P will be the death of Emirates or at least force them to change their model significantly to survive. Australians have already begun the process of skipping Dubai with the new nonstop from Perth to London which has proven successful with load factors at 90%. Next we’ll see Sydney, Melbourne etc. which will render Dubai irrelevant to Australians. This is much like midwestern cities in the United States during the early days of flight. Planes didn’t have the range to fly from coast to coast, so many cities halfway were used as connecting points. With the coming jet age and increased range, these connecting points were no longer needed and now those cities are lucky to see a few regional jets per day. I think Emirates needs to stop the excessive spending and obsession with being the biggest and focus on how to survive when they start seeing more contrails than planes landing.
Good point Charles. CNN blatantly got their facts wrong on this one. EK is most definitely not the largest airline in the world by any of the major measurements. They don't even break the world's top 10 for passengers carried. The closest they come is in scheduled passenger kilometers flown about 4th in the world due to their long haul network.
Muhammed Areeb you may want to check your facts before commenting. I think they are 13th by fleet size. Here is the list. They have never been in top 10. They are the largest A380 operator in the world. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_largest_airlines#By_fleet_size
Great interview. Not touching the service levels declining, rudeness of the crews and lack of customer focus. They used to be great, then they were good and now they are transforming themselves in a cheap no thrills airline.
Casimiro da Silva Santos They hv issue for sure any big company will go through it & lowering service standards is one option they were forced to do after what's been happening in the region + the economic crisis that no one wanna talk about , i believe they hv lower their prices too so it's not that bad for pax.. Like ur profile pic on that Emirates seat lol
Agreed. I have flown Etihad to Dubai as well as Emirates to Dubai and Emirates was shockingly poor in comparison. The service was incredibly unprofessional, disorganised, and lacklustre. Etihad however was a real luxurious experience- mostly due to the quality of the service, you could tell their staff were trained far better than Emirates.
That's his style: idiosyncratic. He used to be BBC's business reporter before he joined CNN. He was even more animated then. I remember him once talking business with his guests over beer outdoors.
Emirates is one of the best airlines I've flown on way better than garbage Air Canada or American Airlines. Singapore is one of the best as-well. But airlines are *subjective* so... it really matters on your taste
I don't fly economy so often anymore, but I believe the best economy classes are to be found with (south)east-asian airlines. Like Singapore, Garuda, Cathay, ... They are so much better than Emirates. But to be fair, there is not that much difference between economy classes, it gets you from point A to point B (maybe with a stop somewhere), and generally I would suggest to just go with the lowest ticket price you can find (unless you have frequent flyer benefits with an airline), shortest travel time and reputable airline. The real terrible product with Emirates is their business class, it's really not competitive, there are soooo many airlines with much better business class than Emirates. But I guess Emirates has very good marketing. And a very good IFE (in flight entertainment) system!
Nope. Had a very cramped, small, dirty and old chair to sit on for 2 hrs. Plus the toilet container in the bathroom was broken and the food sucks! Needless to say, I'm flying to Qatar Airways this Xmas
I extensivelly travel this part of the world, and Emirtes is not my airrline of choice anymore. I am at the point were I dread Emirates flights, and look forward to a Qatar Airways flight. The personnel onbord is stressed, not attentive, the food quality has also been going down steadly since a couple of years.
ULR with big twin engines will become the norm in future. These aircraft are more efficient and although they are still affected by higher oil prices, they are less sensitive to higher oil prices than a 4 engine aircraft. The next step after ULR aircraft like A350 and B787 become common is the introduction of narrowbody ULR aircraft to serve even thinner routes.
Incredible two think after two years after this interview , what was on the horizon in 2020 for airlines. But as most of know Emirates like the rest of the worlds airlines are in big trouble
Many time passed from here, last one 2 weeks ago. My suggestion to them is as in olden days airlines used to give whole package to stay 1-3 days at stopover. Like first time I went to London in 1999 on Emirates I got 2 day package with agent for like $25, my uncle went to London & got 2 night stay in Cairo. Now if you want to get stopover they charge extra just for stopover, or higher ticket price. On Expedia or like webs there no option for stopover. Only Wowair has stopover option on there web. I thinks all these airlines should promote to people to take stopover & give them good packages to stay few days. Good for both airline & local city. Last time I checked on Expedia to stay over but there is only multicity option & $1200 with stopover was $2400, no big thanks, I got I week stay from local agent same price.
These guys completely ignore the point that Emirates has over 100 planes of 380 that is hard to fill and very expensive to fly. The production of 380 has stopped which means they have little re sale value and can’t be converted into freighters as well. EK is the only airline with so many 380’s and now offers lower fares than many other airlines with poor service but direct connections just to fill 380. We will know soon in a year or two the impact as Dubai itself is slowing down due to huge cost of living.
Never had a bad experience with Emirates. Staff may be overworked but always friendly. Living in Perth I would only consider Qantas direct to London in Business or First class. Everyone needs a little Starbucks to break up a long haul flight and DBX is a great airport. Recognition for Qantas, Mr Joyce has done a good job competing with an airline that has endless government subsidies.
My family were racial abused by the cabin crew on a Lufthansa flight in front of the purser. Even the purser was apologising for the steward's behaviour but the steward was not bothered by it all. Will never fly with that ex-Nazi airline ever again.
I love flying with Emirates..Dubai a fascinating place and Emirates an excellent airline..who wants to fly with drab British airways or Lufthansa from congested Frankfurt???
Emirates is just too optimistic. It's a whole different playground now with all these other Airlines popping up like Etihad and Qatar Airways. Ofcourse Etihad has gone somewhat south with service and quality but Qatar is slowly but surely sweeping in the ranks. Be careful Emirates.
Ya sure Emirates is optimistic. However you can't deny that they are doing extremely well. I have flown with Qatar in their smaller A319 planes economy class was nothing special. I was somewhat disappointed. All airlines flying here in SEZ have great entertainment systems. Only their aircraft was the odd one out and thats a fact as i was a former airline employee. Its only now that they have upgraded to a more favourable A330.
Bilal Ahmed Etihad lost billions of dollars last year are now not profiting and Qatar airways has lost a big share of passengers from gulf states and and can’t go through saudi airspace..
i believe its in value? all the business in the emirates triangle like catering, security and engineering, as well as plane assets due to them having so many expensive planes on order.
Their economy seats are not that great. It might be the best one on first class. Their seat configuration on their 777 is 3-4-3, a terrible experience for ultra long flights. Qatar economy is so much comfortable on the 777 with a 3-3-3 seat configuration.
Tim Clarke doesn’t want to admit that no pilots want to work for Emirates anymore. It used to be a highly desirable place to work, you had to have 4000 hours to work there and lots of jet experience. Now they’re taking turboprop pilots from the third world with as little as an ATPL. They’re desperate, but they’d rather take pilots with a lack of experience (and all the risk that entails) than pay for and improve conditions for the experienced ones. That says a lot if you’re planning to travel with them as a paying punter and expecting safety.
Well most of the pilots are English (typical union morons ) that fly the Emirates aircrafts. It looks like English pilots can't handle pressure flying state of art aircrafts (controlled by on board computers) for long flight duration. God you out of date people complain too much in life.
What’s your experience, MS flight sim? Perhaps you have a Human factors degree even? Put it this way where do you think the locals learn to land a plane before playing with a 400t a/c
Emiriates is definitely not the largest airline in the world. They have a quarter of the aircraft of airlines like American and United. The barely beat JetBlue in fleet size.
Hi Richard. Excellent video. Congratulations. You look healthy and tan. Though wearing a suit in 50°c weather must be hell. I cannot figure out Emirates. How they fill their planes is a mystery to me. How can they fill seven A380s daily between London and Dubai? Or do they? Where are those people headed to? I can't for the life of me understand why anyone goes to just to Dubai. Hope you are well!
Vaibhav Grover yea this is their business model, they take passengers from large cities from Asia/ Africa/ Oceania/Europe and putting them to dxb, then fly them to Asia/ Africa/Oceania/Europe as the destinations, this is called hub and spoke model a lot of premium airlines uses this model, emirates especially because they are in the middle of a lot of routes. While on the contrary discounted airlines uses the point to point model, they take passengers directly to the destination without hubs. Hub and spoke model usually means bigger demand for a certain routes so they can use 7 A380 from dxb to London which they can provide better services on the airplane.
Approximately 70000 passenger transit from dxb everyday. Most of passengers get free transit visa upto 48 hours. Emirates flys more than 150 destinations around the globe. Emirates flight can fly to any part of world coz due to the geographical factor. Dubai is one of shopping destination as well. I hope u got your answer.😉
Dubai is a massive hub for the world..you fly on to virtually anywhere from there. The connection times / facilities etc are first class. Obviously you have not visited Dubai? It's amazing, hot but amazing
Man it's always good to fly to Europe by Emirates. Without touching UK. Which saves few hours. An intelligent person will understand why Richards is barking
For example, they cut off United Airlines monopoly on the NYC - Athens Greece route by taking over Newark Airports hub. It was hundreds of dollars lower than Delta out of JFK for nonstop to Athens. They cut in, they have been sued by United, bullied by congress over the route at Newark. Theyre still going. The route is around 980 dollars, Delta is 1200 during reservation season
Lambo Parfums Hub and spoke still can work in the future. However, hubs need to have the capability to able to land aircraft in all weather conditions and wind directions. Also, it should also be able to carry people to a nearby city in like 15 minutes by high-frequent public transportation. I'm indeed referring to Schiphol, a hub airport from which even Ryanair is refusing to leave unless they're paid for.
It's hard to take him seriously when he was caught in a very embarrassing situation: "In 2008, Quest was arrested in New York City's Central Park with drugs in his pocket, a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals, and a sex toy in his boot." source: wikipedia
pilot shortage is really been caused by the 1500hrs rule, Its not like there are no pilots to take up those positions and also pilot training is amazingly expensive this is why there's a catastrophic problems of Pilot shortages
But yet, Emirates will survive for two reasons. First, its perfect geographical location makes it an ideal airline for trans-Eurasian travel. And secondly, Dubai has become the financial center of the Middle East, so there is demand for the airline's services.
Emirates has gradually been pricing itself out of customers due to its high ticket prices.... its become a rip-off airline and why? Well, they needed more money to buy more aircraft that hey ordered. Even now they charge for ticket changes for business/1st class passengers... like hello... these are the customers that are prepared to pay higher prices but Emirates just wants to get that extra money. As for the onboard service, its going downhill. The food is crap and even flightcrew serving it up don't think much of their "much acclaimed" menu. I chose to not fly Emirates a year ago because of these reasons and their ticket prices which for biz/1st class is way way over the top. There are classier airlines like Etihad and Qatar Airlines whose service and prices are reasonable. Emirates Airlines just got greedy with its customers and has lost a lot of them. Tim Clark doesn't even realize this - he's on top $$$ so are the airline backers. Tsk tsk.
I would argue that Dubai is no longer growing. At least not with the same foreign money coming in. Its quite the opposite with hordes of expat's leaving the UAE. Obviously Sir Tim Clark has to be optimistic for the future profitability of the airline.
Unfriendly pricing structures are starting to bite, with change of flights costing arm and a leg, with Eithad and more so Qatar & Oman airways competing at better inflight experience, Emirates will be on the back foot, retaining its core stopping points, Qatar already has a new airport and Oman will shortly be opening theirs. Both locations has expansion capabilities built into the designs together with plenty of land use that can be redeveloped in the old airports for second terminals.
Pfft... their business model was always doomed from the start. They simply were able to compete (and destroy competition) due to their lower running costs for so long (practically free oil, borderline slave labour, etc). Look forward to them going away again and returning that place to the desert it should be. It's all a facade, like most other things in that part of the world. The greedy 'expats' that live and work there have done well exploiting the place over the past decade. Now they'll have to return to the real world. I feel sorry for the locals who saw no benefit from all this nonsense.
No evidence for what you are saying. People said that 20 years ago and look how big they are now. Meanwhile lots of airlines - including legacy carriers - have gone bust.
No facts, just talk. Their revenue for 2017 $27.9bn. The 6th largest. www.airport-technology.com/features/worlds-biggest-airlines-2018/ Skytrax rates Emirates as the 4th best: www.worldairlineawards.com/worlds-top-10-airlines-2018/ In terms of cabin, they rank in the top 5 for First Class, Business Class and Economy. The features which they give you, even on economy class is insane. Also, I have family working there and they love working for Emirates. I dont know what you've flown, but you're clearly biased, and seem to have an irrational hatred of Dubai / Middle East.
Bizarre, I don't like the UAE and others, but I don't run on emotion and hopes, but look at facts. Dubai airport is over capacity, they have built another terminal to handle an additional 15 million pax. They have relocated cargo to a new airport to ease congestion, Emirates have ordered additional A380s and other aircraft and you think they are going away? Based on what? Thoughts and prayers?
Your words are loaded with bias. Dubai airport is no longer over capacity; they were but now that they have a new terminal it only runs at 50% capacity. They've ordered new planes as has every other carrier in the world but they have significant options on A380 aircraft that it looks like they will cancel. It speaks of an economic model that was too optimistic and is now coming crashing back down to earth.
Ok Emirates is built on oil money which it needs to keep growing and yet this clown is stating oil prices as factor which can affect the growth of Emirates either positively or negatively the disruption by Emirates is primarily due to oil no need to pay for it just dig up and fil up simple as that
I fly only with Emirates in the last 8 years, few times / year, intercontinental flight, around 20 hours/ fly. The quality of food/beverage and entertainment system is continuous dropping also to business class and economy class, sorry, but if this is continue I will switch to other companies. Also the services are very low for what the pretend ro be and sometimes fly crew is rude. You ask for something and never comebacks.
It's going to get tougher. Singapore airlines will continue hammering away as will Ethiad and Qatar. Istanbul(Turkish Airlines) is getting ready to open a new airport which has the potential to be the largest in the world. If Iceland Air/WOW gets it act together, Reyjavik could potentially become a big transportation hub. Heathrow has potential once it gets it's 3rd runway built. Lots of people throwing resources into airports/airlines.
Doubt the business will crumble if the security model is up to par with other military states with international and other interested parties or competition with the statistics. Airlines in the heart of the east are great for international as well as native territory being considered with travel as long as they have profits and the international scope should be prevention of September eleventh like terrorism using the corporate property. Not because of who but how. And breaches in security are refreshed quite quickly and updated I reckon.
This interview is a showcase of attack & defence. Why has a Middle Eastern airline become so successful? Tim successfully defends the airlines growth & Richard's attacks are everything Dubai has been wrongly showcased in Western media.
I believe that might be you Ivan Guderian. Western Media portrays Emirates as the devil. I can guarantee you, that they are not. Not telling you this based on what the media says, but by actually flying them.
Western media doesn't portray Emirates as anything. They don't care about Emirates and soon they wont care about Dubai when the entire economic region collapses after oil becomes obsolete and the region has no money to subsidise its obscene wealth inequality and economic facades.
You clearly are biased against the Middle East. First off Dubai doesn't rely on oil. Its the only one of the states of the UAE that doesn't. They used to, but not anymore. They saw the problem of being over reliant on it, waayy before you did, and diversified its invesments. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Dubai "Real estate and construction (22.6%), trade (16%), entrepôt (15%) and financial services (11%) are the largest contributors to Dubai's economy." My question is, have you been to Dubai? have you flown Emirates? If its yes, then it's a pity you had a bad experience. If its no.. well, try to get more unbiased news sources.
Dubai still has vast wealth reserves built on the back of oil. Just because its revenue today isn't from Oil doesn't mean it isn't as a result of subsidies from government investment that was funded by previous oil profits. The fact is, a huge city in the middle of the desert doesn't happen without some ridiculous fortune built on natural resources.
its worth noting that the US is embarking on an economic war, and it's own airlines have begun a campaign to try and limit foreign carriers including Emirates from taking chunks out of their market share. This could be viewed as another component of that economic war, trying to highlight "threats" operating from the middle east, empty seats etc. The truth is I have flown BA, Virgin and some US carriers, and Emirates hands down is better.
