Emirates ups the ante to capture more Gulf traffic

Emirates airline has made a move to capture more of the Kuwait premium market as part of an expansion plan through the Gulf states.

The Dubai airline has announced an increase in flights to Kuwait and to neighbouring Qatar.

Qatar and Kuwait will each benefit from an additional daily frequency, bringing operations to Doha to six services per day and Kuwait up to five flights per day. With six flights per day, Doha has the highest number of daily frequencies in the Middle East region, followed by Kuwait.

Both cities play a key role in the region’s business growth, attracting international investors and facilitating global trade. With a total of 46,430 seats available for inbound and outbound booking each week, across the two markets, these additional daily flights are well timed to support the countries accelerated trade and tourism growth.

Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ senior vice president commercial operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran said

“These additional frequencies have been added to accommodate increasing demand from our customers. Both Doha and Kuwait are extremely viable markets for Emirates and there is a clear indication that they will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years,”

Industry  analyst Saj Ahmad described the increase as a ‘great strategic decision”.

He said: “Emirates decision to boost frequencies between Doha and Kuwait not only increases competition for Qatar Airways and Kuwait Airways, but it also pits it head to head with the likes of Jazeera Airways too.

“What's most interesting with the increased flights to Kuwait is the deployment of a tri-class 777-300ER. Clearly, Emirates is vying for high yield premium traffic and to capture it at the expense of an ailing Kuwait Airways.

“Boosting frequencies in the GCC is big business, not least for low cost airlines. But with Emirates upping the ante, Qatar Airways in particular will be forced into a similar move - it cannot afford for traffic to be siphoned off from its Doha hub.”

Khoory described the regional market as “one of the most active aviation markets in the world” and said   these additional daily frequencies, to two of the region’s key destinations, will provide even more “convenient connections to onward travel through our international hub of Dubai.”

The additional daily frequency to Doha will be operated by an Airbus A340-300 in a three class configuration.

Emirates has operated flights to Doha since 1994, the most recent increase in frequencies was in December 2009 when services went from four flights a day to five. Kuwait has been part of the Emirates network since 1989 and last received an increase in flights in July 2009.