Emirates Airlines reported that the commercial return on the airline’s new daily line between Dubai and the Mexican capital Mexico City, via Barcelona, ​​has been high since the first flight that was launched on Monday, noting that it has achieved the maximum benefit from all the agreements that the UAE has signed on aviation, 107 open skies agreements out of a total of 147 transfer agreements the country signed with various countries of the world.

Commercial payoff

In detail, Salem Obaidullah, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations for the Americas Region in Emirates Airlines, said, “The commercial payoff for the new daily airline between Dubai and the Mexican capital, Mexico City, via Barcelona is high since the first flight that was launched on Monday.”

In his speech to Emirates Today, he added that the occupancy rates for the first flight on the Emirates Boeing 777-300ER plane were 100% from Dubai to Barcelona, ​​while the occupancy rate from Barcelona to Mexico City reached 70%.

He explained that with regard to shipping, the plane carried to Barcelona about 18 tons, while the load from Barcelona to Mexico City was about 13 tons.

With regard to the difficulties faced by «Emirates Airlines» to launch the new line, especially by the Mexican airline «Air Mexico», which filed a lawsuit to stop the operation of the new line for Emirates Airlines, Obaidullah said that «(Emirates Airlines) dealt with this matter according to Of the agreement between the Emirates and Mexico, which allows the operation of this line, ”explaining that the Mexican company filed a lawsuit to stop this line, but lost it.

He pointed out that «Emirates Airlines» depends in its inauguration of new airlines on the size of its current fleet and the economic and commercial feasibility that the company will achieve, pointing out that the focus of «Emirates Airlines» currently and during the next year focuses on the current airlines of the company and how it is developed to increase its revenues.

He explained that «Emirates Airlines» launched during the year 2019 about four new destinations to Bangkok in Thailand, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Porto in Portugal, and Mexico City in Mexico.

Maximum benefit

Obaidullah indicated that Emirates Airlines achieved the maximum benefit from all the agreements that the Emirates signed on aviation, as the UAE has 107 open air agreements out of a total of 147 transport agreements signed by the state with various countries of the world, explaining that the company is currently covering the lines that it operates About 90% of the total of these agreements.

He stated that the fifth freedom is not available in the Arab world, but also its signature with the Arab countries is "ineffective", because the company resorted to it when the occupancy rates are low and the demand for the destination for which the company operates flights is weak, or that the company's flights do not reach there, Pointing out that this matter does not apply to Arab countries, for example, the percentage of occupancy on the company's lines to Cairo is 95% throughout the year, while it reaches almost 100% on the lines to Saudi Arabia, and therefore there will be no benefit from applying the fifth freedom to these destinations.

It is noteworthy that the fifth freedom in air transport means the right that a country grants to the aircraft of another country to land and take passengers or goods coming from a third country, which means freedom to travel between two foreign countries during a journey that begins or ends in the country of the parent company.

Expo 2020

Obaidullah said that the company is currently preparing for the largest event in the country during the next year, which is the Expo 2020 Dubai exhibition, stressing that dealing with this event takes place at the country level to coordinate between its various institutions and companies. He explained that the main focus of «Emirates Airlines» is on how tourists from all destinations reach the Emirates easily.

He explained that there are many things that will contribute to the ease of the flow of tourists to the Emirates during this event, as 99% of the airlines that the company operates daily, and the majority of citizens of countries in the Americas and Europe do not need a visa to enter the Emirates.

He pointed out that the company is considering submitting offers to countries whose citizens need entry visas for the Emirates, such as Vietnam, which the company is currently studying how to provide complete packages for its citizens starting from travel tickets to the country and hotels and internal transfers.

It is noteworthy that the first flights of the new line left last Monday at 3:30 am and arrived in Barcelona at eight in the morning, and then left for Mexico City and arrived at 4:15 pm, and the return flight «EK 256», then takes off from Mexico City at the hour 7:40 pm and arrive in Barcelona at 1:35 pm the following day, then leave Barcelona at 3:15 pm to land in Dubai at 12:45 pm after midnight, which allows passengers to continue their travel easily with short waiting times To many destinations in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The influx of tourists

In addition, Mexican Tourism Minister Miguel Turku Marques said that his country expects an increase in the flow of tourists to it during the coming period after the inauguration of the new airline between Dubai and Mexico City.

He explained, during a press conference held recently, that the number of tourists coming from the UAE during the past year amounted to 523 thousand tourists only, an increase of 8.1% from 2017, noting that the opening of the new line will not only attract tourists from the UAE, but will also attract from the countries of Asia, Especially India, as he expected an increase in the number of tourists from Spain in light of the passage of the new line in Barcelona.

He mentioned that this new line comes within the strategy of the State of Mexico to diversify the tourist markets on which countries depend instead of focusing on five main markets, noting that Mexico received 15.52 million tourists during the period from January to last October, of whom 55.5% came from the United States, and 11 .4% from Canada, 3.2% from the United Kingdom, 3.1% from Colombia, and 2.2% from Argentina.

He pointed out that the new line of "Emirates Airlines" serves the plan of the Mexican Ministry of Tourism aimed at increasing the number of tourists continuously, pointing out that now there are many ways for tourists in the region to reach Mexico.

The new line

The Mexican Tourism Minister Miguel Turku Marques said that the new route between Dubai and Mexico City, via Barcelona, ​​started with only one flight per day, and it is possible to increase the number of flights per day, according to the volume of demand on the new route.

He explained that the new service is in line with Mexico's tourism plan aimed at opening new markets and enhancing communication with the Middle East, noting that Emirates Airlines is the 43rd carrier operating international flights to Mexico.

He explained that the launch of this service contributes greatly to the expansion of the company's network to communicate with the world by adding daily flights to Dubai and beyond.

It is noteworthy that Dubai has become a favorite destination for Mexicans, as the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing shows that the number of Mexicans who visited Dubai during the first five months of 2019 recorded a growth of 32% compared to the same period last year.

Salem Obaidullah:

“Emirates Air’s focus is on the airline’s current lines, and how it can grow to increase its revenue.”