United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier Emirates Airline has revealed it will introduce a new daily link between Dubai International and Barcelona El Prat as part of an enhanced offering in the Spanish market. The carrier will launch a daily flight on the route, its 30th European destination from July 3, 2012 just two days after it launches a second daily rotation on its existing link to Spain’s capital, Madrid, where services only commenced in August 2010. Both new services will be operated using a 360-seat Boeing 777-300ER, configured in a three-class arrangement, including eight First Class Private Suites.
As capital of the Catalonia region, Barcelona is an important commercial city and has been on the Emirates radar for a number of years. It is an established centre for hi-tech and biomedical business and has one of the busiest ports in the Mediterranean. Thousands of cruise passengers are amongst the city’s seven million visitors per year. Located in the north east corner of Spain, it is a popular tourist destination, boasting a wealth of gothic architecture, art galleries, sandy beaches and the Montserrat mountain range.
“Emirates is making a very significant investment in Spain. To announce a new destination and a doubling of services to an existing gateway at the same time demonstrates our belief in the market and our commitment to the country,” said Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline. “Madrid has been a strong performer and the demand is there for a second frequency, while we need a second point serving the dynamic Catalonia region.”
Catalonia receives approximately 25 per cent of annual foreign investment in Spain and more than half of the Japanese, French, German, American, Italian and Dutch companies in Spain are located in the region, according to Barcelona City Council. The city is home to a population of around 1.6 million people – a figure rising to more than seven million across the Catalonia region.
“The new link between Dubai and Barcelona will provide an efficient route to a wide range of Emirates’ destinations across Asia including Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea and Singapore,” added Tim Clark. Overall trade between Spain and the UAE reached AED 4.15 billion ($1.13 billion) in 2010, according to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade.
Meanwhile, Emirates has revealed it will upgrade capacity on its new Dubai – Dublin route after less than six months of service by introducing a Boeing 777-300ER from July 2012. The airline inaugurated a daily flight between the two cities on January 9, 2012 using a three-class, 237-seat Airbus A330-200 but has reported loads of more than 90 per cent on many of the services making it one of its most successful route launches ever.
“Normally, this [the A330-200] would provide enough capacity for the first 2-3 years of a new route operation, said Salem Obaidalla, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation, Emirates Airline. “However, Dublin is exceeding our expectations much faster than was predicted and we need more seats to satisfy demand.”
The introduction of the larger aircraft from July 1, 2012 will increase capacity by 52 per cent with each rotation providing seating for 360 passengers - 310 in Economy, 42 in Business as well as eight First Class Private Suites. The 777 also increases the cargo availability on the route, a key part of the airline’s network success.
“A bigger aircraft means more good news for the Irish economy. We can bring extra visitors to the country and carry additional cargo,” explained Salem Obaidalla. “The A330-200 can carry up to 15 tonnes of cargo in the belly hold – this figure rises to 25 tonnes with the introduction of the 777.”
Ireland has a population of around 4.5 million, while around 5,000 Irish nationals live in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) so a relatively strong point-to-point demand is anticipated on the route. However, around 80,000 more live in Australia, which Emirates identifies as a “key market” for the new service: more than 70 passengers on the 237-seat inaugural flight came from bookings in Australia, according to the carrier.
Dublin is already linked to the UAE by Etihad Airways which offers ten flights per week to Abu Dhabi, while Aer Lingus has also served the Dublin – Dubai route in the past. An estimated 54,000 O&D passengers travelled between Ireland and UAE in the past year with around 18,000 travelling on the direct Etihad service. Emirates already holds a 9.9 per cent share of this traffic with around 5,000 O&D passengers flying to Dubai via its UK destinations. But, as mentioned previously, this route is more than just about O&D passengers. Alongside its 18,000 point-to-point passengers, Etihad carried an estimated 160,000 passengers to other destinations in its global network – the main markets being Sydney, Australia; Kochi, India; and Bangkok, Thailand.
Already this year, Emirates has launched new routes to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires and will start flights to Lusaka and Harare from February 1. Dallas will follow on February 2, Seattle as of March 1, Ho Chi Minh City from June 4 and Barcelona effective July 3. The airline is also expected to introduce flights to Chicago and Taipei during the second half of 2012 and announcements confirming these two new routes are expected in the coming weeks.
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