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Old 15th May 2008, 07:04 PM
Will T Will T is offline
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Default Emirates to launch new budget airline

This one appears to have popped up around the time the Board was down, but is probably newsworthy enough to post belatedly.

Quote:
Emirates to launch new budget airline
By Lucia Dore (Assistant Editor, Business)
Khaleej Times

19 March 2008

DUBAI - A new low-cost airline will be launched in the UAE following an order issued by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The airline is being launched in response to the growing number of passengers travelling to and from the UAE, according to the official news agency Wam.


The statement also said that the new airline would be pricing its services to passengers based on their “economic and living conditions to suit their incomes”.

Emirates, the Arab world’s largest carrier, will be running the new low-cost airline. In a prepared statement the airline’s chairman and chief executive, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, said: “Emirates welcomes this announcement, and any new Dubai airline operation. Dubai’s open skies policy encourages the growth of air transport, which has and continues to contribute to the development of this city. The new airline, a low cost carrier, will complement the international air services already provided by Emirates. As chairman and chief executive of Emirates and chairman of the new low-cost airline announced today (Tuesday), I can confirm that Emirates will extend its support to the new company.”

The new airline plans to lease or buy single-aisle aircraft and will begin operations within a year. It will also be flying to destinations between four to four and half hours away from Dubai, Shaikh Ahmed said.

Other airlines operating in the region have responded positively to the decision to launch a new budget carrier. A spokesperson for the Sharjah-based low cost carrier, Air Arabia, bestowed congratulations on those who had made the decision, saying that the launch of the airline would complement Air Arabia’s offering. “The penetration of the budget sector is very low,” he said. “There is a lot of room to grow.”

A spokesperson for nasair, Saudi Arabia’s budget airline, also saw the move as positive for the region’s entire aviation industry. He said the emergence of cheaper airlines gives more opportunities for people to travel. “Higher fares restrict travel”, he said, adding that cheaper fares combined with more choice allows people to be more flexible and spontaneous with their travel arrangements. Even Singapore Airlines, one of the world’s leading long-haul carriers, saw the decision as good for the industry because it would provide a “feeder service from the region.”

For some, the decision to launch a budget airline could come as a surprise. Only last June, Shaikh Ahmed had dismissed rumours that Emirates had plans to launch a budget operation. Ghaith Saeed Al Ghaith has been named CEO of the new airline.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayA...on=theuae&col=
Quote:

Dubai plans low-cost carrier, eyes single-aisle planes
18 March 2008

The Economic Times


DUBAI: Dubai, owner of Emirates airline, said it plans to start a low-cost carrier within a year to tap travel demand in the Gulf, and is looking to equip its fleet with single-aisle aircraft.

The carrier, which as yet has no name, will be managed by the head of Emirates' head of commercial operations and fly to destinations within 4-1/2 hours of the Gulf Arab emirate, Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum told on Tuesday.

The fleet will be equipped either with Boeing Co 737 aircraft or Airbus A320s, Sheikh Ahmed said, after state-owned Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported a decree from the ruler of Dubai announcing the carrier's creation. "There is a need for it in the region," Sheikh Ahmed said.

"We are looking at the market, and we will either buy or lease, depending on the price, and other things." In November, Emirates ordered $23.4 billion of aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, with options for 50 more, valuing the total potential order at almost $35 billion.

Emirates, which Dubai started in 1985, is the largest Arab carrier and the ninth international airline in the world by revenue per passenger kilometre, according to the International Air Transport Association.

The new carrier will be the sixth in the region that is low-cost and will compete with Sharjah, United Arab Emirates-based Air Arabia, the Middle East's largest low cost airline.

Air Arabia was also the first in the region to be privately owned. "The market is sufficiently big for all of us and it will complement us," Air Arabia Chief Executive Officer Adel Ali said.

"I am pleased such an airline has seen our business model as a success and decided to do the same." Air Arabia, which is based in Dubai's neighbour in the UAE federation, in November ordered 34 planes from Airbus worth $3.5 billion. Emirates, the largest customer for Airbus's A380 aircraft, plans to take delivery of 246 planes worth more than $60 billion during the next few years.

It does not operate any single-aisle planes. Kuwait's Jazeera Airways is the only other listed airline in the Gulf and uses Dubai as a hub.

WAM said on Tuesday Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum decreed the low-cost carrier should price its services based on "the economic and living conditions to suit their incomes." Ghaith al-Ghaith, executive vice president for commercial operations at Emirates, will be the new carrier's CEO, Sheikh Ahmed said.

About 35 million people live in the Gulf of which about a quarter are foreigners, with many of those unskilled workers from South and East Asia. Dubai airport, the Middle East's busiest, handled 34.34 million passengers last year, up 19 per cent over 2006, according to its Web site.

The emirate is building another airport capable of handling 120 million people.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/2879090.cms
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