Emirates is assisting the Dubai government to set up its new low cost carrier but says the airline will be an independent operation once it is up and running next year.
“We’re providing technical assistance to the airline,” says Emirates Airline president Tim Clark. “We’re helping it get started and then it’s on its own.”
Clark, who expects the airline will begin operations in the summer of 2009, says it will fit well with Emirates existing network: “There are a number of airlines flying into Dubai using very old equipment that you’d thought had gone out with the end of the Cold War,” he says.
He points to markets such as the former Soviet states where Emirates “would never go with its widebodies, that the new airline could serve efficiently with a fleet of brand new aircraft”.
Plans for the Dubai low-cost airline emerged in March, when the emirate’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum ordered the establishment of a budget carrier.
The airline is currently under formation headed by Emirates’ executive vice-president of operations Ghaith Al Ghaith. It will be based at the new Al Maktoum International Airport being developed at Jebel Ali.
Source: flightlgobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: Flight International
