Emirates Airline has signalled its resolve to push ahead with United States route expansion plans amid a feud with US rivals over the open skies agreement.
The Dubai-based airline announced a new daily service to Orlando, Florida, its 10th city in the US, and a doubling of capacity on its flights to Seattle, Washington, as part of a long-term plan to service 20 US destinations.
The new services come amid allegations by three US airlines that Emirates, along with Etihad Airlines and Qatar Airways, have used unfair state aid to fund their global expansion, a claim all three deny.
“It’s business as usual. These plans [for Orlando and Seattle] have been in preparation for a long time, in response to normal commercial and consumer demand,” an Emirates spokeswoman said.
The Orlando route, which will commence from September 1, will be served by a Boeing 777-200LR with 216 economy class seats, 42 business class seats, and eight first class seats, the airline said.
Emirates will add a second daily flight to the route between Dubai and Seattle beginning on July 1.
Some US airlines are likely to regard the fresh route expansion as an escalation of the dispute, analysts said.
“The new route will antagonise US airlines, but their angst is not justified in the absence of them actually competing,” said Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research.
“Orlando is one of the world’s premier leisure and conference destinations, a dynamic business centre and a destination which Emirates has long wished to serve”, said Tim Clark, president of Emirates.
Will Horton, a senior analyst at Capa Centre for Aviation, said that it makes sense for Emirates to fly non-stop to Orlando, given that the city is the top connecting market for the airline at New York’s airport JFK.
The Orlando route also gives Emirates a foothold in the US domestic market via its code-share with JetBlue Airways, the New York-based airline that flies to the Florida city, 24 other cities in the US, as well as Caribbean and Latin American destinations.
“JetBlue is a very important partner for Emirates,” said Mr Horton. “Over a quarter of Emirates’ passengers at [New York’s main airport] JFK connect beyond this point.”
Emirates continues to be bullish on the US market, despite the open skies controversy. Mr Clark said in September that he aims to make the American market its third-largest in terms of revenue.
Capa said that Emirates “will likely need to increase its US capacity by 50 to 100 per cent in the medium term” in order to make the US market its third- largest by revenue.
In its last public figures, the US contributed 7 per cent of Emirates’ revenue in 2013. The airline’s revenue from the Americas, including Canada and Latin America, has doubled to $2.5 billion in 2013, from $1.1bn in 2009. Emirates does not provide a country-by-country breakdown.
But the Gulf airlines are facing tough scrutiny by US carriers. Mr Clark was in Washington last week to hit back at the claims made against them by Delta, United and American Airlines, and US aviation trade unions.
James Hogan, the chief executive of Etihad, also rejected claims of government subsidy to the Abu Dhabi airline running into billions of dollars.
The US airlines had prepared a 55-page document, which they released in late January, detailing allegations of unfair government subsidy and other financial incentives that they claim were in breach of the open skies agreement.
Mr Clark has denied Emirates had received government help when it made losses on fuel hedges in 2009.
In a recent note on Emirates connectivity to the US, the airline said: “Emirates has created a hub in Dubai that allows passengers in the US cities it serves to fly one-stop to 16 different Middle Eastern destinations; 24 African destinations; and 35 Asian destinations.
“The three US network airlines only serve a combined five points in Africa and six in the Middle East.”
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