Emirates airline announced on Thursday that it plans to serve “all its destinations” again by summer 2021, after having reduced its sails due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
The largest company in the Middle East, based in Dubai and which operates a fleet of 270 wide-body aircraft, ceased operations at the end of March due to the Covid-19.
Two weeks later, it resumed a reduced activity, notably providing repatriation flights, before gradually increasing its flights after the relaxation of travel restrictions by Dubai to revive its tourism sector.
"We have almost doubled the number of passengers" in one month
"I think we can easily say that in the summer of 2021, we will be serving 100% of our destinations," Adel Al-Redha, Emirates director of operations, told CNBC.
“Obviously, the frequency of flights will depend on demand and restrictions which will have to be relaxed in certain airports and certain countries,” he added, specifying that the company planned to serve 143 destinations in this way next summer.
Emirates currently flies to 70 destinations, according to the carrier's website. “If I compare our current performance with that of a month ago, we have almost doubled the number of passengers,” said Adel Al-Redha.
Job cuts could reach 15% of the company's workforce
Company CEO Tim Clark estimated in early June that it would take up to four years for Emirates' operations to return to "some degree of normalcy" and that job cuts could reach 15% of employees. the company's workforce, ie 9,000 positions.
Emirates has so far not released figures on job cuts already announced since the start of the pandemic.
The airline industry has played a key role in making Dubai a global tourism and transport hub. The emirate welcomed more than 16 million visitors in 2019 and this year was targeting 20 million tourists.
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