01/08/09, 02:22:23 UTC

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On the wings of Emirates

anba.com.br

São Paulo – More than just benefiting from the already existing demand of Brazilians who travel to Dubai, Emirates Airline, of the United Arab Emirates, wants to create a new market of passengers with its direct flight between São Paulo and Dubai, to be inaugurated on October 01st.

"We believe that the connection between two large commercial centres, the largest in South America and the largest in the Middle East, has to be a success," said the company's senior vice-president of commercial operations for the Americas, Nigel Paige, at a press conference held yesterday (14th) in the southeastern Brazilian city of São Paulo.

As an example, he cited the route between the emirate and New York, inaugurated in June 2004. "Last year, 350,000 United States citizens travelled to Dubai, 100% more than in 2005, and most were on business trips," he said. "The logic with regard to São Paulo is similar," he claimed. The great differential, in his assessment, will be the saving of time, as currently passengers must make connections, especially in Europe, spending hours inside an airport in between one flight and another.

Therefore, the company expects high occupancy rates in its six weekly flights. Although the route has not yet been inaugurated, demand can already be measured, since it is possible to make reservations through a travel agency. "We are convinced that occupancy rates will be very good," stated the director-general at Emirates in Brazil, Ralf Aasmann. "I will be disappointed if we do not attain occupancy rates of at least 80%. In that case, I will call Ralf from New York, and the telephone line is going to melt down!," Paige joked.

But more than creating new demand besides the existing one, the executives believe that the new route will promote business between Brazil and the Emirates. "We can create a large business volume between the two countries. Furthermore, we can attract tourists to Brazil and Dubai," said Paige. "We also want to strengthen the ties between the two countries and the two cities," said Aasmann.

Promotion

To that extent, the company is willing to promote its services and destinations. According to Aasmann, next week will see the beginning of Emirates' media campaign in Brazil. In parallel, the airline has been developing its relationship with tourism agencies. During the month of August, the company will promote, in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (in southeast Brazil), road shows for industry professionals. A total of 2,400 participants are expected to attend the events.

"The idea is to showcase the attractions of Dubai, such as its importance as a distribution hub. Furthermore, in October, a delegation of company employees working in different locations will come to Brazil to get to know the country, so that they will be able to promote the destination abroad," stated Aasmann. Also in October, the president at Emirates, Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, will come to Brazil to participate in the official inauguration events for the route.

According to Paige, as a distribution centre of products and services, Dubai supplies to a region ranging from Egypt, in North Africa, to India. "In the Jebel Ali Free Zone alone, there are over 6,000 companies installed. The potential for Brazilian companies is huge," he told ANBA.

In addition to catering to those who wish to travel to the United Arab Emirates, the Emirates Airline also wants to get ahold of passenger demand to other destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania, as it offers connections to several destinations in those regions. On the other end, according to Aasmann, the company closed a deal with Brazilian airline TAM to offer connections to other Brazilian and South American cities.

In the case of New York, according to Paige, Dubai is the final destination of 50% to 60% of all passengers, and the remainder seek other locations. Regarding Brazil, Paige still considers it difficult to make a forecast, but he believes that the rate will be 50% to 50%. "Dubai can be a faster and more pleasant alternative for connections to destinations such as China and Japan, for instance," he said.

Paige said this is going to be the first direct flight between Brazil and the Middle East. The trip from São Paulo to Dubai is going to last 14 hours and 40 minutes. In the opposite direction, the trip will take 15 hours and 30 minutes. For the route, the Emirates will use the Boeing 777-200 LR jet airplane, with a configuration of 8 seats in the first class, 42 in the executive class, and 216 in the economic class.

In order to captivate customers, the company is also betting on differentiated services, such as 600 video channels in all classes, and multilingual crews from 100 different nationalities. "Emirates focuses on services, on catering well to customers. The idea is for the customer to fly with us once, and then fly with us again and again," said Aasmann. "And we have fees for all classes, not just the luxury ones," he claimed. The basic price will be US$ 1,355 for a two-way ticket.

The company's workforce already counts on around 200 Brazilians operating on different routes, and the company continues to recruit people in Brazil. On the 19th, according to Aasmann, there will be a new selection process in Rio de Janeiro.

Cargo

Another of the companies' bets is the cargo sector, in which it already operates by means of agreements signed with companies Varig Log and TAM, which carry products from Brazil to Europe, for later transportation to Dubai and beyond by the Emirates Airline. According to the cargo sales development manager, Prakash Nair, even flying at full passenger capacity, the 777-200 LRs have a transport capacity for 18 tonnes of cargo.

Currently, Emirates Airline has a 106-aircraft fleet and caters to 92 destinations in 59 countries. In the last fiscal year (2006-2007), the Emirates Group posted a net profit of US$ 942 million, compared with US$ 762 million in the previous fiscal year. During the same period, 1.2 million tonnes of cargo were transported, and the flights had an average occupancy rate of 76.2%.

 Printable Version  | published Aug 15, 2007