Behramjee From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 4441 posts, RR: 43 Reply 2, posted (9 years 6 months 1 week 22 hours ago) and read 1485 times:
Only BOM is there for India which isnt good as India is a HHUUGGGEE market ex AUH so DEL-TRV-BLR-MAA and CCU better be on the hit list soon.
The problem is that they have only A 332s which I feel is too large an aircraft for LHE and KHI flights unless that same aircraft carries on to key destinations like JED-RUH or LHR/LGW which will be helpful and result in more pax numbers ex PAK.
Is it LHR or LGW that they want? Easier and cheaper to get LGW right? They should look into GVA too and fly to USA/CAN from there nonstop!
Yegbey01 From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 1679 posts, RR: 3 Reply 4, posted (9 years 6 months 1 week 21 hours ago) and read 1431 times:
BA,
Don't you think that the UAE -BEY market is getting overserved now that Etihad has commenced its operations. MENAJet will also be starting service out of SHJ early next year as well.
Where are all the passengers going to come from? Will GF reduce its flights out of AUH?
Will be interesting to see what happens this summer.
BA From United States of America, joined May 2000, 11135 posts, RR: 61 Reply 5, posted (9 years 6 months 1 week 21 hours ago) and read 1415 times:
Yegbey01,
No, I don't thinkt he UAE-BEY market is overserved because the market is extremely huge. The amount of investment in Lebanon by Emirate's is absolutely unbelievable.
Emirate-based groups such as Al-Habtoor are building skyscrapers in Beirut right now. So much business ties between the two nations.
I also do not think the Abu Dhabi - Beirut market is served well enough. Gulf Air flies the route only 4 times a week and MEA flies it only 4 times a week with Emirates having 1 flight coming from Dubai before.
So I think this service is quite needed.
I think Air Arabia has pretty much covered the Sharjah - Beirut market sufficiently. I know about Mena Jet, and Pluto Airlines planning service to Beirut from Sharjah. Whether their is demand for two more carriers is very questionable, considering that Sharjah is very close to Dubai, and Dubai is a much bigger and attractive fish than Sharjah. We'll see what happens.
As for Gulf Air reducing their flights, who knows. There was a rumor that Abu Dhabi was going to cut its stake with Gulf Air.
Etihad Airways was started by Abu Dhabi itself. So that's not really a good sign for Gulf Air.....
Who knows what will happen. Oman created their own airline and dumped Gulf Air, Qatar created their own airline and dumped Gulf Air, Dubai created their own airline and dumped Gulf Air.
As a result, Gulf Air has been suffering as I'm sure you know, relying on Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. That might change, Gulf Air may have to ONLY rely on Bahrain soon....
It's really a shame actually.
Regards
"Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need." - Khalil Gibran
AirxLiban From Lebanon, joined Oct 2003, 4491 posts, RR: 55 Reply 6, posted (9 years 6 months 1 week 20 hours ago) and read 1410 times:
it really is a shame for gulf air.
but lets talk of more important things.
MEA for example.
MEA had better be aggressive enough in the region to make sure that none of their customers to go Etihad. At least on the Beirut-Dubai services they've brought in an A330 on some flights but hopefully they dont lose business to etihad.
Yegbey01 From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 1679 posts, RR: 3 Reply 7, posted (9 years 6 months 1 week 20 hours ago) and read 1381 times:
BA,
I know what you mean by the DXB-BEY market potential
Last month I flew LGW-BEY through DXB with EK. A big chunck of the flight was pax connecting from SYD. But the SHJ and the AUH fligts are O&D flights mainly. So how will they survive. How much growth are they predicting??? It sure is good news for the airport and for customers.
AirxLiban,
I know what you mean.... MEA is missing out.... If they don't expand in a hurry, the cat will eat their dinner as they sit and watch. THere's so much happening on the DXB sector already. More capacity was added by EK last summer and all they did was upgrade from A320 to A321 (sometimes A330).
If all these airlines are adding flights, MEA should have been flying twice daily to DXB already. El-Hout is just being too cautious.
BA From United States of America, joined May 2000, 11135 posts, RR: 61 Reply 8, posted (9 years 6 months 1 week 19 hours ago) and read 1353 times:
But the SHJ and the AUH fligts are O&D flights mainly.
Yes, you are right that they are mostly O&D.
However, my uncle works for Siemens and regularly flies between BEY and AUH always on business and he always has trouble finding flights because they are always full.
There is a lot of business travel between the UAE and Lebanon.
As for SHJ, it's a low-fare market. Air Arabia should to fine because they will over low fares.
MEA recently upgraded the Dubai flight to an A330 during 4 days of the week. I'm sure they will consider increasing it more at some point.
Regardless, my uncle and cousin always fly on the MEA flight between BEY and DXB and lately, most of the time have been forced to go on Emirates because the MEA flight is fully booked.
So they seem to be doing especially well in DXB.
Regards
"Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need." - Khalil Gibran
7E7 From Australia, joined Aug 2003, 159 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (9 years 6 months 1 week 11 hours ago) and read 1276 times:
Flyf15 was about to say that!
The CEO is the same as Gulf Air's few years ago.
I have to agree with BA seeing the stakes of GF are decreasing, it would not be long before seeing Bahrain as the sole owner of GF.
Again, MEA may be missing on some precious expansion oppurtunities.
One funny thing is, Etihad=Unity -> United hehe.
We all have to wait and see, as time will only tell.
RiverVisualNYC From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 930 posts, RR: 3 Reply 14, posted (9 years 6 months 1 week 4 hours ago) and read 1122 times:
FlyF15 got it right, I lived in Abu Dhabi from '96-98 and I am 100% sure it's not in the center of Saudi Arabia (despite what alot of Americans think)....Hope the same people that did the website don't do their navigational cartography.....ANYWAY....Abu Dhabi is a great city that often gets overlooked, especially since the GF hub is BAH and the EK hub is DXB....AUH lost alot of its nonstop links to Europe and Asia in the wake of 9/11 and now alot of people have to travel by road to DXB, which can take a couple of hours, or take a GF flight connecting through BAH, to go anyplace. That said, Abu Dhabi is probably doing this more out of local pride than for any other reason, and simply put, because they can -- despite all the press about DXB tourism and real estate development, it's AUH that has the oil and gas and that's where the real money is. The United Arab Emirates (Etihad al Emirat al Arabiyah in Arabic, with Etihad meaning United!!!) is in fact a federation of 7 emirates, each of them pretty autonomous with its own royal family (and probably soon its own airline), but AD is in fact the federal capital, hence the claim to be the flag carrier. Lastly, as for the tail art, it is in fact the official crest that adorns things like government buildings, passports, and the aircraft of the Emiri (royal) flight aka the UAE's Air Force Ones....Would it make more business sense to integrate this effort with GF or EK? Absolutely, but AD as a wealthy emirate and the federal capital obviously seeks the prestige that comes with having its own airline, and they are obviously in a position to subsidize the operation (in the way that the royal family of DXB subsidizes EK)...But I am all for anything that brings people to Abu Dhabi and I am all for more international airlines so to Etihad, I say MABROOOOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EurostarVA From Bahrain, joined May 2002, 1296 posts, RR: 8 Reply 15, posted (9 years 6 months 1 week 2 hours ago) and read 1078 times:
The tail livery reminds of me of the Egypt government A340.... it should have been designed to be more client-oriented... an international passenger wants the logo to be easily recognized...not some air force or typical arab symbol (other countries like Egypt, Palestine, Syria, use a similar government logo).
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