Air Canada Takes Aim At Emirates' Expansion Plans

Titlu: Air Canada Takes Aim At Emirates' Expansion Plans
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1268180068.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 10/03/2010

Citat :

The chief executive of Air Canada accused Emirates on Tuesday of wanting to "flood" Canadian skies with airline seats so it can scoop up passengers and divert them through Dubai.

Such a move by the Dubai government-owned airline would be "severely damaging" to airports and airlines operating in Canada as it would steal away the connecting passengers they depend on to make their routes profitable, Calin Rovinescu, CEO of Canada's biggest airline, said.

"While its argument may be seductive, what Emirates' strategy will do is constrain the growth of Canadian airports by turning them from hubs into stubs at the end of a spoke that leads only to Emirates' hub in Dubai," Rovinescu said in a speech in Vancouver.

Emirates has been lobbying the Canadian government to allow it to expand its three-day-a-week Dubai-Toronto service. It also wants to fly to Calgary and Vancouver.

A study, commissioned by Emirates and released two weeks ago, concluded that Canada could reap economic benefits of CAD$480 million (USD$466 million) a year and create 2,800 jobs if the Mideast airline was given more flying slots.

"It is well known in the industry that Emirates is trying to push hard to divert as much global flow traffic via Dubai in order to deploy its massive fleet of wide-body aircraft, including A380s it has purchased or has on order," Rovinescu said.

He said statistics showed that the number of people travelling daily to Dubai from Canada last year was "barely enough to fill a mid-size, 213-seat Boeing 767".

Last month Emirates' senior vice-president of international affairs, Andrew Parker, told Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper that Air Canada and its Star Alliance partner, Lufthansa, were unnecessarily worried about losing passengers to Emirates.

He said Emirates' Toronto-Dubai flights have been more than 90 percent full.

Calin Rovinescu ? E roman ?