GREATER EFFICIENCY AND COST SAVINGS AHEAD AS EMIRATES BECOMES A TWO TYPE AIRCRAFT OPERATOR
(Posted 12th November 2016)
Emirates has just set a new Gold Standard for the international aviation industry, when after retiring their last Airbus’ A330-200 and A340-300 from its fleet it has become a two wide body aircraft type operator. This is thought to give the airline a cost advantage by only operating the most efficient aircraft types on the market and cutting down on maintenance cost, spare part inventory and training for crews.
Emirates very recently took delivery of its 85th Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger plane and only days ago of their 125th B777-300ER.
The remaining two class B777-200LR’s on the fleet are now the airline’s smallest aircraft with 266 seats.
Africa remains in focus for the airline and East Africa is served daily and double daily, depending on the destination, through flights to Entebbe, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Further down south are Lusaka and Harare also served daily, all with Boeing B777 equipment while some destinations in South Africa now see the Airbus A380 ply the route, as it does to Mauritius as well.
The Seychelles, part of Africa, is served double daily with B777 aircraft.
The recent retirements and additional deliveries have pushed the average age of Emirates’ fleet down to just over 5 years. This is a major accomplishment compared to global average age standards for airlines of this size and reach and among many other reasons, is giving the American and European legacy carriers a run for their money, not imaginatory state subsidies as they keep alleging.
