Emirates’ Shaikh Ahmad bullish despite global economic worries. Emirates' Shaikh Ahmad talks to Gulf News about Brexit and expanding into the United States. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv
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00:00Your Highness, thank you for speaking with Gulf News Today at the Arabian Travel Market.
00:09In two months from now, the United Kingdom will vote in a referendum on where it will
00:12decide to stay or leave the European Union. If it leaves, this will have economic ramifications
00:17for the world. How do you see this impacting the travel sector and particularly Emirates
00:22who flies to a number of destinations in the Kingdom?
00:25The decision is for the Brits to decide on that. I'm sure the British people are wise
00:31enough to decide what's good for Britain and the UK in that regard. I think everybody expects
00:41them to stay. This is what we are hearing. We hear also that the odds are 3-1 that they
00:49will be staying in the EU. I think we have a good bilateral today with the British and
00:58also with many other countries within the EU where we see that they want Emirates, they
01:07want the product of Emirates. It has made a lot of difference to their airport where
01:13they operate at the moment. So I take it, as you see in Britain, we have increased our
01:21flight to Heathrow. I think we're going to six flights to the 80s and also the other
01:28airports within the United Kingdom.
01:31Are you concerned though that if Britain was to leave, it would have an impact on the global
01:36travel sector? Some analysts say there would be a drop in travel both to and from the United
01:40Kingdom if they were to leave.
01:42I don't think that the travel, I think, as a destination, still is one of the destinations
01:48that a lot of passengers want to go to and the UK will always remain. It's an excellent
01:56market, I think, regardless of what the decision would be at the time.
02:01It's been a difficult time for the travel sector over the past 12 months, which is where
02:04we've seen the bombing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt, terrorist attacks in Paris and
02:09in Brussels. How do you see the next 12 months for the travel sector and particularly to
02:13Emirates and the destinations it flies to?
02:15I'm always thinking in a positive way and this is the way we are here in Dubai. I think
02:24we deal with whatever comes in our way and we try to manage it. I think we have seen
02:33the last couple of years many destinations have been closed for reasons beyond our control,
02:40I would say, but we managed to grow the business, the destinations that we fly to and so on.
02:49So I think 2016 will still be a good year and you see it from the number of aircraft
02:57that we see coming to the Emirates fleets. We'll be receiving this year 37 aircraft,
03:0921 380s and 16 777s. Of course there are some aircraft, older aircraft will be going out of
03:17the fleet, but still that's a huge capacity that will add up. We're opening new destinations,
03:24Kaplan in China and also two other points within that Asian region.
03:31Is Asia where you see Emirates growing in the coming years or do you expect
03:35more growth in mature markets such as the United Kingdom and the United States?
03:39I think it's all over. I mean still you look at Africa, there is a big room for growth within
03:46Africa. Asia, China, the Indian subcontinent, Europe also. I think we opened a new destination
04:01this year in Italy, Bologna as the one in Europe and we are also in the process of
04:07taking an open new destination in the year to come somewhere in Europe.
04:13Alexandre Di Giugniac, the Chief Executive of Air France KLM is about to become the IATA
04:18Director General where he is supposed to represent in the interests of all airlines.
04:23In the past as Chief Executive of Air France he has opposed the growth of the big three
04:27Gulf carriers including your airline Emirates. Do you think that he is the right person for the job?
04:33Can he be a neutral representative of all airlines? I think he should be a neutral
04:38representative if he is on the IATA because the IATA is all about all the airlines under
04:44one umbrella and they should really be discussing more a positive way to see the aviation sector
04:51and where it is going. So I'm sure whoever will be selected, I'm sure people who should be
04:56selecting him, they should really see that the way. And what happens if Mr Di Giugniac is appointed
05:03and he represents only a certain block like he has in the past that were anti-Gulf carriers?
05:08Yeah but it's different before maybe he's representing a country or an airline but now
05:16he's not on his own, it's not his sole decision where to take IATA. In 2015 there was an aggressive
05:23campaign by American carriers against Emirates and other Gulf airlines trying to stop them from
05:27growing in the United States. So far this year we've heard little noise on that front. Do you
05:32think that campaign is over? Oh under the contract or the bilateral today we can't fly
05:39but there is no issue with the bilateral. The bilateral still exists between the UAE and
05:47America. Of course I mean and this is what I mean we fly today to 11 destinations
05:54in the state. So now I would say the ball is in the American court
05:58at the White House and we didn't hear anything so far from them. I think we put up
06:07our case in regard of talking about subsidy to the airline and we would really prove that
06:14those are the right figures. Is there more expansion coming into the United States? Can we
06:19see Emirates flying to more than 10 cities in the United States soon? Oh yeah I think the future
06:25will always be I think to cover there is many states who are really interested that we should
06:31be flying to. For over a year now Emirates has been calling on Airbus to commit to building a
06:37re-engined more fuel efficient version of the A380, a flagship aircraft in the Emirates fleet.
06:43Have you had any commitments from Airbus on whether they will build this aircraft?
06:48You know that the A380 is one of the flag carrier today for Emirates beside the 777,
06:55also a beautiful aircraft that we fly to. We will always want really to see this big airline
07:03to continue. I mean still we have that 77 aircraft that has been delivered so far to Emirates and we
07:10should see this number is going to 142 and this is why we recently also bought two new ones.
07:17But still no confirmation from Airbus on whether they will build the A380neo?
07:24We have to see what the Airbus will come up to. Earlier this year Airbus chief sales executive
07:30John Leahy said that even if Emirates wanted the plane they couldn't take the A380neo until the
07:34mid 2025s because of congestion at Dubai International. How busy is that airport
07:40getting and what does that mean for your growth? You know I think with the process now of building
07:44the new airport at Al Maktoum airport with the first expansion which should finish late next
07:54year 2017 and that would give the Al Maktoum international capacity of 25 million plus the
08:02second phase of Al Maktoum which is the 90 plus million passenger. So we'll have two airports
08:09with a capacity of more than 200 million and I think that will be no issue to deal with. I think
08:16yeah it is tight at Dubai International because of the runway capacity but it's something that
08:22we are dealing with and the A380 has helped a lot seeing that the number of on an average of
08:29one aircraft landing at Dubai International Airport come in count of number of passengers
08:37is 207 in total on average of every aircraft lands. Your Highness once again thank you for
08:43taking the time to speak with Golf News today. The Emirates financial year ended on March 31st and
08:48you're expected to report your financial results in the coming days. Can you give us an idea on
08:53what they're looking like? Oh we should really have the total number of people that we fly
08:59should be above the 50 million passenger. I think we should see really a good result
09:06for Emirates and its financial result. You know as you know we publish really our number just
09:14a month after the end of the financial year and I don't think there is any company who do that
09:20you know after the end within just just one month or one month and 10 days the date
09:26which has been decided. So we are really at the last week of confirming all the figures and numbers.