Emirates’ Shaikh Ahmad bullish despite global economic worries

Gulf News

Emirates’ Shaikh Ahmad bullish despite global economic worries. Emirates' Shaikh Ahmad talks to Gulf News about Brexit and expanding into the United States. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00Your Highness, thank you for speaking with Gulf News Today at the Arabian Travel Market.

00:09In two months from now, the United Kingdom will vote in a referendum on where it will

00:12decide to stay or leave the European Union. If it leaves, this will have economic ramifications

00:17for the world. How do you see this impacting the travel sector and particularly Emirates

00:22who flies to a number of destinations in the Kingdom?

00:25The decision is for the Brits to decide on that. I'm sure the British people are wise

00:31enough to decide what's good for Britain and the UK in that regard. I think everybody expects

00:41them to stay. This is what we are hearing. We hear also that the odds are 3-1 that they

00:49will be staying in the EU. I think we have a good bilateral today with the British and

00:58also with many other countries within the EU where we see that they want Emirates, they

01:07want the product of Emirates. It has made a lot of difference to their airport where

01:13they operate at the moment. So I take it, as you see in Britain, we have increased our

01:21flight to Heathrow. I think we're going to six flights to the 80s and also the other

01:28airports within the United Kingdom.

01:31Are you concerned though that if Britain was to leave, it would have an impact on the global

01:36travel sector? Some analysts say there would be a drop in travel both to and from the United

01:40Kingdom if they were to leave.

01:42I don't think that the travel, I think, as a destination, still is one of the destinations

01:48that a lot of passengers want to go to and the UK will always remain. It's an excellent

01:56market, I think, regardless of what the decision would be at the time.

02:01It's been a difficult time for the travel sector over the past 12 months, which is where

02:04we've seen the bombing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt, terrorist attacks in Paris and

02:09in Brussels. How do you see the next 12 months for the travel sector and particularly to

02:13Emirates and the destinations it flies to?

02:15I'm always thinking in a positive way and this is the way we are here in Dubai. I think

02:24we deal with whatever comes in our way and we try to manage it. I think we have seen

02:33the last couple of years many destinations have been closed for reasons beyond our control,

02:40I would say, but we managed to grow the business, the destinations that we fly to and so on.

02:49So I think 2016 will still be a good year and you see it from the number of aircraft

02:57that we see coming to the Emirates fleets. We'll be receiving this year 37 aircraft,

03:0921 380s and 16 777s. Of course there are some aircraft, older aircraft will be going out of

03:17the fleet, but still that's a huge capacity that will add up. We're opening new destinations,

03:24Kaplan in China and also two other points within that Asian region.

03:31Is Asia where you see Emirates growing in the coming years or do you expect

03:35more growth in mature markets such as the United Kingdom and the United States?

03:39I think it's all over. I mean still you look at Africa, there is a big room for growth within

03:46Africa. Asia, China, the Indian subcontinent, Europe also. I think we opened a new destination

04:01this year in Italy, Bologna as the one in Europe and we are also in the process of

04:07taking an open new destination in the year to come somewhere in Europe.

04:13Alexandre Di Giugniac, the Chief Executive of Air France KLM is about to become the IATA

04:18Director General where he is supposed to represent in the interests of all airlines.

04:23In the past as Chief Executive of Air France he has opposed the growth of the big three

04:27Gulf carriers including your airline Emirates. Do you think that he is the right person for the job?

04:33Can he be a neutral representative of all airlines? I think he should be a neutral

04:38representative if he is on the IATA because the IATA is all about all the airlines under

04:44one umbrella and they should really be discussing more a positive way to see the aviation sector

04:51and where it is going. So I'm sure whoever will be selected, I'm sure people who should be

04:56selecting him, they should really see that the way. And what happens if Mr Di Giugniac is appointed

05:03and he represents only a certain block like he has in the past that were anti-Gulf carriers?

05:08Yeah but it's different before maybe he's representing a country or an airline but now

05:16he's not on his own, it's not his sole decision where to take IATA. In 2015 there was an aggressive

05:23campaign by American carriers against Emirates and other Gulf airlines trying to stop them from

05:27growing in the United States. So far this year we've heard little noise on that front. Do you

05:32think that campaign is over? Oh under the contract or the bilateral today we can't fly

05:39but there is no issue with the bilateral. The bilateral still exists between the UAE and

05:47America. Of course I mean and this is what I mean we fly today to 11 destinations

05:54in the state. So now I would say the ball is in the American court

05:58at the White House and we didn't hear anything so far from them. I think we put up

06:07our case in regard of talking about subsidy to the airline and we would really prove that

06:14those are the right figures. Is there more expansion coming into the United States? Can we

06:19see Emirates flying to more than 10 cities in the United States soon? Oh yeah I think the future

06:25will always be I think to cover there is many states who are really interested that we should

06:31be flying to. For over a year now Emirates has been calling on Airbus to commit to building a

06:37re-engined more fuel efficient version of the A380, a flagship aircraft in the Emirates fleet.

06:43Have you had any commitments from Airbus on whether they will build this aircraft?

06:48You know that the A380 is one of the flag carrier today for Emirates beside the 777,

06:55also a beautiful aircraft that we fly to. We will always want really to see this big airline

07:03to continue. I mean still we have that 77 aircraft that has been delivered so far to Emirates and we

07:10should see this number is going to 142 and this is why we recently also bought two new ones.

07:17But still no confirmation from Airbus on whether they will build the A380neo?

07:24We have to see what the Airbus will come up to. Earlier this year Airbus chief sales executive

07:30John Leahy said that even if Emirates wanted the plane they couldn't take the A380neo until the

07:34mid 2025s because of congestion at Dubai International. How busy is that airport

07:40getting and what does that mean for your growth? You know I think with the process now of building

07:44the new airport at Al Maktoum airport with the first expansion which should finish late next

07:54year 2017 and that would give the Al Maktoum international capacity of 25 million plus the

08:02second phase of Al Maktoum which is the 90 plus million passenger. So we'll have two airports

08:09with a capacity of more than 200 million and I think that will be no issue to deal with. I think

08:16yeah it is tight at Dubai International because of the runway capacity but it's something that

08:22we are dealing with and the A380 has helped a lot seeing that the number of on an average of

08:29one aircraft landing at Dubai International Airport come in count of number of passengers

08:37is 207 in total on average of every aircraft lands. Your Highness once again thank you for

08:43taking the time to speak with Golf News today. The Emirates financial year ended on March 31st and

08:48you're expected to report your financial results in the coming days. Can you give us an idea on

08:53what they're looking like? Oh we should really have the total number of people that we fly

08:59should be above the 50 million passenger. I think we should see really a good result

09:06for Emirates and its financial result. You know as you know we publish really our number just

09:14a month after the end of the financial year and I don't think there is any company who do that

09:20you know after the end within just just one month or one month and 10 days the date

09:26which has been decided. So we are really at the last week of confirming all the figures and numbers.

Category

Transcript

Recommended