Emirates Airline President Tim Clark unveiled the airline’s plans yesterday to delegates of Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) yesterday. These delegates are in the UAE to make their final decision on the host city for the World Expo 2020 where Dubai is a candidate city. Emirates expects to have more than 250 aircraft serving some 70 million passengers across six continents by 2020. Mr Clark aims to be the largest airline by international passenger traffic, even thought that’s not the airline’s end goal. The airline’s aim is to connect travellers from around the world to Dubai, and other destinations with just a single stop via the Dubai hub. With Dubai’s strategic position, Emirates Airlines is able to serve almost 90% of the world’s poopulation with non-stop flights.
Emirates currently operates 3,200 flights globally per week to 135 destinations in 76 countries. Emirates is the largest operator of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s today. It has an order book for 53 and 64 more of each aircraft type respectively.It has launched new services to 20 destinations since January last year and will start services to Conakry on 27 October 2013, Sialkot on 5 November 2013 and Kabul on 4 December 2013.
“Having the right equipment is important to our business model, but equally key to the mix is having the right ‘software’ – people and culture. With 50,000 staff from over 160 nationalities, Emirates is one of the largest multicultural organisations in the world. What this means is that we have people with a truly global mindset, who thrive in a fast-paced complex world, and are ready to embrace differences to bring the best ideas to the table. This is important if we want to be successful as a global connector and global enabler for travel, business and culture,” said Mr Clark.
Traffic growth at Dubai International Airport has seen double growth in international passenger numbers from 24.8million in 2005 to 47.2 million in 2010. In 2012, it handled 57 million passengers from 225 destinations, travelling in on more than 140 airlines. In 2020, Dubai expects to welcome over 20 million visitors and airport infrastructure has been gearing up to meet the demand. Emirates got a new Terminal 3 in 2008 and recently opened a new Concourse A for Emirates’ A380 operations making it the only airline in the world to operate an A380 dedicated terminal. Construction of Concourse D is due for completion in 2015 to expand handling capacity for the other airlines operating international flights.
Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC) which started freighter operations in June 2013 will welcome its first passenger flights on 27 October. Emirates is constructing a new home for its freighter operations at DWC with a cargo terminal and supporting infrastructure, scheduled for completion in May next year. By mid 2020s, this airport will have the capacity to handle 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo.
To check out the amenity kits given out to First and Business Class passengers on board Emirates airlines, click here.
