Emirates’ joy at A380 success
MIDDLE East airline Emirates has hailed the success of its A380 flight, which launched a year ago, and is one of three daily flights from Manchester to Dubai.
Laurie Berryman, the airline’s vice president UK & Ireland, said the response to the A380 had “exceeded expectations in every way”, and there is a chance that a second aircraft could be introduced to the Manchester route – but not until 2013-14.
“The A380 was a step into the unknown for us in Manchester, particularly as we’d never done a first class product here before, but it’s done very well – we’ve had more than 2,000 people enjoy first class since launch.”
He said the bigger aircraft and the introduction of the third flight this year had seen passenger numbers in July increase 50% on 2010 to 33,000.
Berryman said competition from Middle East rivals Qatar and Etihad was good for consumers and there is “enough business for everyone”.
A more serious concern though is Air Passenger Duty – which he said is putting the UK at a competitive disadvantage to other European destinations on out-bound long-haul.
“We feel APD is harming UK aviation and damaging the economy as a result. In this country we have to pay up to 15% more tax here than in other European countries, and when you add this to rise in the price of oil, then it is a challenge for us.”
He was bullish though on the airline’s growth prospects, with new routes from Dubai due to be announced in the coming weeks.
“We have 162 new aircraft on order, including 75 A380s and several new routes in the pipeline. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a second A380 on our Manchester evening service before too long.”
He said cargo volumes were strong and the airline was carrying everything from “Steel from Sheffield to marmalade and Marmite” for ex-pats living in Dubai.
Among the more unusual loads he said was birds of prey – in the last three months more than 530 falcons, bred in North Wales, have been exported to Dubai, due to demand for them there.
Julie Bailey, Emirates’ sales manager for the North, said the majority of the airline’s first class customers were leisure travellers, entrepreneurs and professional sportsmen.
“We have worked a lot with upmarket tour operators, targeting people going to the Maldives, Mauritius and the Seychelles. the next half-term holiday is fully booked in first class.”
