WITH the demand for air travel between Dubai and Manila seen almost doubling in the coming years, gulf carrier Emirates is seeking to expand its operations to and from the Philippine capital by either adding more flights or up-gauging its existing ones.
However, constraints on flight entitlements, as well as infrastructure are seen as barriers for this initiative, according to Emirates Country Manager for the Philippines Satish Sethi, who noted that Emirates is willing to work with the Philippine government to address these issues.
“We need…more capacity in the Philippines, but we know there’s a severe bottleneck here. We’ve been trying to negotiate with the Philippine government to see how we could bring in more tourists to the Philippines and give options to overseas Filipino workers living in Dubai and across our network,” he said in a media roundtable on Thursday.
There are two ways to expand its Manila operations. One, getting more flight entitlements from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and two, by shifting the Boeing 777 operations to a two-class Airbus A380.
More entitlements
“Our immediate request is for more frequencies. Our loads are pretty high, our seat factors are running in mid-90s, which leaves little room for growth and for more travelers to choose us,” he said.
Seat load factor refers to the percentage of the passengers onboard and the capacity of the aircraft. Typically, an 80-percent load factor generates profits for airlines.
“Our appetite is large, we’re carrying a million passengers a year. The kind of demand that we have is at least two more flights a day. But it’s not realistic when it comes to Naia, so we have requested for at least three more flights a week to be added,” Satish said, referring to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Currently, Emirates flies 18 times from Manila to Dubai per week.
“We have recently seen a reduction in capacity from some airlines to the United Arab Emirates—from two airlines that fly to Abu Dhabi. We have requested to consider giving us part of those, so that it doesn’t really cost additional burden to Naia,” he explained.
As its request is being discussed by the regulators, Emirates is also asking the Philippines and the UAE to conduct a fresh round of air services negotiations to expand their current air pact.
Upgrade to up-gauge
Its second option is to up-gauge its aircraft to a double-decker Airbus A380, which has 615 seats compared to the roughly 440-seat capacity of the Boeing 777, which currently serves the Manila-Dubai route.
“We have been looking for more capacity and flights in the form of bigger aircraft. The A380 has been the pillar of our fleet…and we are in discussion to see how we can mitigate,” Satish said.
He noted that it might not be the most viable for Emirates due to the “technical aspects” of the Manila airport, including the runway specifications and the disembarkation requirements for a double-decker airliner.
Team from Dubai
However, Satish said his group plans to bring in a team from Dubai to inspect, evaluate, and work with the Philippine government to allow Naia to serve A380 operations, noting that his group may be willing to shell out money to help upgrade the facilities of the Manila airport.
“We proposed that we send our technical team to sit together with civil aviation authorities to see what can be done. We will be going to the next aspect to see if there is a need for an investment or not,” he said.
This appetite for increased operations in Manila comes as Emirates noted a 15-percent increase in passenger volume from 2017 to 2018, as more and more Filipinos travel for both business and leisure.
Satish added that there is also demand from corporate entities that incentivize their clients such as health maintenance organizations, insurance companies, pharmaceutical groups, and banks.
Aside from Manila, Emirates also has circular flight operations from Cebu to Clark to Dubai.