Emirates is hoping to recover its capacity to 70% of pre-pandemic levels by winter, according to the airline’s chief commercial officer. The airline is currently running its entire Boeing 777 fleet, meaning that further capacity increases will almost certainly mean that more Airbus A380s are brought out of storage in the Dubai desert.
Airlines from all corners of the world are looking to recover from their worst crisis yet. Some have been dealt relatively good hands. China’s domestic market has seen a full recovery, for instance. Others were forced to ground entire fleets, such as Emirates who is still not able to operate its flagship routes.
Capacity recovery
According to Reuters, Emirates plans to offer about 70% of its pre-COVID-19 capacity by the winter travel season this year. The aviation year is divided into two seasons, summer and winter. We’re currently in the summer 21 season. The winter 21/22 season is due to start on October 31st.
According to Reuters today, the airline’s Chief Commerical Officer, Adnan Kazim, commented,
“We already have a plan to get back to almost 70% of our capacity to be recovered by winter 2021.”
In August last year, the airline’s Chief Operations Officer, Adel al Redha, commented that the Dubai-based giant would be flying to 100% of its pre-pandemic routes by summer 2021. With confidence, he revealed that this would mean 143 destinations would be served.
The trade-off would be lower frequencies than before the pandemic. According to Reuters, this is not yet the case. The publication revealed that Emirates is currently only serving 120 destinations, accounting for around 85% of its pre-pandemic network.
Flagship route blocked
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