CathayPacific

here is the link: Emirates and Canada | Public Affairs | Emirates Canada


Quite sad to see that the governements problems with the UAE have got into the way of a growing airline. And just so people know, Emirates is NOT the national airline of the UAE and is NOT funded by them. Etihad Airways is the official airline and is backed by the governement. A similar situation is happening in Australia aswell.

So basically EK desperatly wants to begin flights to Vancouver and maybe Calgary, but the governement won't give them landing rights to protect Air Canada, but yet AC doesn't even fly to DXB to start with, yet the DXB airport authority has no ban on AC flying there, all in all a tough situation, with a very large arabic population in Vancouver, I'm sure EK would bring the A380. Seattle was there next best option, but the airport can only handle the 777s. What are your thoughts on this ongoing dispute ?

T7_4ever

Well, I've flown on both airlines (Emirates and Air Can), and I would have to say that my flight experiences on Emirates was a "tad" more pleasant than flying on AC. If I have to fly a few more extra hours (flying with EK) to get to my final destination and save some pesos, I would do so with no hesitation. Back in 2010, I was able to snag a $1,100 flight from YYZ to MNL on Emirates on the A380 and a T7, which also included an overnight hotel stay in Dubai (this break was great, due to sleeping on a comfortable bed and taking a shower in the morning, before departing to Manila). Total return fare = $ 2,300.00 for 2 adults and an 8 month old baby. The EK flight crew were awesome, food was fine, self serve snacks/beverages were a plus, and that onboard Entertainment system is second to none! Also, I walked off the plane with a better view/attitude towards the A380. No need to praise the T7 again, hee hee! Now back to the dispute = Loved it when Peter Mackay wore an Emirates hat to Parliament Hill during the fracas!! Harper's own govt minister of national defence is backing Emirates for god's sake!! Harper will keep bowing to Air Canada and keep putting up the 'NO EXTRA FLIGHTS 4 EK' signs, as long as he is PM. Cheers! T7

CathayPacific

Glad you enjoyed EK, I'm thinking of going to Dubai next year and if I do, I'll book through YYZ to fly the A380, which would be a first for me, the sad thing is is that EK siad they would bring the A380 to YVR

MrMD11

Another example of government meddling where it doesn't need to be involved. You can also argue that this is another example of a government attempting to pick winners and losers.

lanceb

Thats fine. The Canadian govt doesnt want people to holiday (read cheaper airfares) thats up to them. More A380s for Australia!

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High Flight

Why doesn't Air Canada spend time and money to improve their airline and make it more competitive? They didn't allow Singapore Airlines to land in Toronto for the same reason.

Hispania

They know how to micromanage worst...many Canadians travel by car to US and take a plane from there to avoid the excessive Canadian taxes...Air Canada needs a long way to improve and offer better services...before the Canadian Government let someone like EK in...

mjabbasi

As far as I can see, EK is out and out on global domination and if left to them, they will end up putting just about every other airline out of business with their monopoly. They have secured destinations and slots by slapping down hard cash, the result of which other airlines have been left out. One example being Mauritius. A Qatar employee told me they wanted to fly to Mauritius but the authorities there only allowed them slots 3 times a week while EK was granted daily slots so QR refused to fly there. This was about 5 years ago so I'm not sure what the position is today re Mauritius.

Many Govts will want to protect their national carriers especially if they know they're struggling and if EK comes along with their (now standard) 5 daily flights in and out, other airlines will be literally flying empty while this global godzilla continues to gobble up and trample on the others (while slowly and gradually sacrificing quality and services) and EK being owned and funded by Dubai (the worlds biggest wannabes) its not surprising as the Dubai lot are hell bent on wanting and being the biggest and the best in the world. They want to outdo everyone and everything by throwing cash in every direction.

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CathayPacific

I don't think EK will sacrifice service standards.

MrMD11

You can argue that the reason Air Canada has poor service is because it knows it will be protected by the Canadian government in terms of both financial losses and potential international competition - in this case from Emirates.

WestjetterO

AC has the Canadian Government wrapped around their finger and at this point they could leverage them into kicking any international airline out of Canada altogehter becase they say they're "losing money" to them.

If AC was operating 4x or 5x weekly into DXB or AUH, I could understand why they would want the Government to block or limit carriers like EK because they would want that route to be profitable for AC, that's pretty fair.

But that's not the case, AC doesn't even serve any destinations in the Middle East or Southeast Asia. Both of those are in pretty high demand considering the number of people from both those regions that immigrate or travel to and from Canada every year. But when a foreign airline wants to serve one of these routes, the Government says no because AC will lose money on a non-existant route of their's.

I don't really think it's right that they are trying to eliminate the competition through the Government. There is supposed to be competition!

Hypothetically, if AC competed with EK on say YYZ-DXB, I think 95% of us would choose EK. So, after 6 months of operation, EK is making money and AC is losing money. So AC tells the Canadian Government to block the Emirates route because almost all of the YYZ-DXB traffic is going to Emirates. I'm sorry but, if EK is the Airline chosen by the consumer on that route, then that's how it is. You can't force people to fly AC because they have no other choices, if EK is generally a better airline then people will choose to fly with them. That's just how competition works.

I'm a little suprised how many CX 777s fly into Canada not to mention other Asian airlines. CX flies 14x weekly into YYZ and YVR from HKG with the 77W, I believe. HU flies 4 or 5x weekly to PEK from YYZ with the A346. BR does 3x weekly to TPE from YYZ with the 77W, CA now does 5x weekly from YVR to PEK, CI does daily flights from TPE to YVR with the A343 and MU does weekly flights to YVR with the A333.

Routes to East Asia seem very important for AC. I'm surprised they haven't said anything about multiple carriers operating frequent flights into two of their biggest asian hubs (YYZ and YVR) to their 3 biggest Chinese destinations, HKG, PVG and PEK.

Note: CX flights to YYZ will be reduced to 1x daily in September.

Anyone else seen this article? PAL wants to start YYZ and JFK.

PAL Sets New Western Destinations | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online

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beltloader

that PAL rumours been going on for sometime now....i know they have flights to YVR and one YYC but got cancelled. If they got rights to land at YYZ, CX BR and KE would loose some revenues because when i use to worked for a certain company that service CX and KE most 75-80% TB's are MNL bound.

adam340

This is definitely nothing like that. The Canadian Government is protecting AC's business by doing this, and as AC is our flag carrier they get special priorities.

D-AIHK

I must say, I have found this thread very interesting. Having had the privilege of flying on both AC and EK, I can safely say EK's customer service and product is fair superior to AC. EK's fleet is more modern, it's has the best inflight entertainment and the novelty of having your own F-class suite (available on all A380 and most 777's), use of on-board showers (only on the A380) is exceptional. Need I mention the Bar and the space at the rear of the A380? I have even got to the stage that all flights bar UK domestic and European flight I use is with Emirates.

As a customer we all would expect to get our monies worth, an with EK you certainly have this. With AC, the staff on the transatlantic flight I had were of the more mature variety and were less accommodating. It felt as if it's was chore for the staff when asking for another glass of red wine!

Service and fleet apart, Canada has a hugely diverse and cosmopolitan culture. One of the biggest is the Asian-sub Indian/Pakistani communities. In order to fulfil these flights, most peopled flying to the either India or Pakistan would either use BA,PIA,KL,AF or AI. AC would cater these services by using its Star alliance partner Lufthansa to which it can sell tickets on the route from FRA-BOM or MUC-DEL for example.

So by having EK visiting Canada on a more frequent visits, a lot more people would choose EK as a matter of price and also service, and thus impose on AC.

This said, we are in a world of economic instability and the reasons for the Canadian Government are to protect its own interest but at the same time competition should flourish. By EK expanding their frequencys to Canada, it would certainly create jobs. In my personal opinion, EK should be allowed to have daily slots as the major Canadian airports to offer its public the choice of who they would like to fly with.

Please note, I have only every used AC on four occasions and I am only basing my opinion based from these experience. I am sure there are also AC frequent flyers and fans who will disagree with what I have said but please bare in mind this is only my experience. Should I use AC again(hardly likely) it might be different.

airbro

EK gets unlimited free fuel, an unlimited supply of cash, doesn't pay taxes there's one word for that-cheating.

D-AIHK

I think calling EK cheaters is a strong word to use. How airline operates is upto them. There is no stopping other government's doing the same for their own legacy carriers but they choose not to as this will impact their tax revenues.

The way to look at this is simply seeing what good does this do for the consumer. Basically you and I get cheaper fares with a great flight experience to destinations around the world, now that surely isn't a bad thing.

adam340

Actually, AC flies to Mumbai, Tokyo, Taipei, Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Osaka, NagoyaL Hong Kong, Delhi, And Beijing just to mention a few all from either Toronto or Vancouver.

airbro

And after all the other airlines are gone, (internationally anyway) Emirates can choose the service they'll give you because there won't be any competition.
I mean they've got 87 (I think) A380's on order, they're expecting something- worldwide domination.

D-AIHK

Brad, they are only using capitalism to make money. If you don't like them, then dont't fly with them. There are plenty of other carriers who would be happy to take your hard earn cash in exchange for an air ticket.

The prediction of having only Emirates as an airline in the future is certainly far fetched. You have forgotten about the other Gulf carriers that exist too, such as Etihad, and Qatar who are not too dissimilar to Emirates.

D-AIHK

I stand corrected Adam. Do AC fly direct to BOM? I presume this is a busy route for them to which they want to protect?

MrMD11

Thank you for proving my point.

WestjetterO

Take the following off that list:
Mumbai
Taipei
Singapore
Osaka
Nagoya
Delhi

AC doesn't actually fly to Mumbai. But their customers can transfer to a Lufthansa or Jet Airways flight through either FRA or LHR. Both are served daily from most of AC's major hubs.

AC pulled out of Taipei 10 years ago. However EVA flies into YYZ and YVR as well as Dynasty into YVR.

Singapore was done years ago, I read the flight was from YYZ-YVR to LHR to BOM and lastly SIN.

AC used to serve Osaka from YVR but that ended a few years ago.

They never served Nagoya.

Delhi was also a thing of the past. AC pax connect through ZRH or FRA and fly with LX or LH.

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D-AIHK

Thank you for clarifying the destinations served by AC. Would like to know where Adam340 got his facts from!

adam340

Dang Wikipedia!