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Towards the end of November I reported on how Emirates wasn’t having much luck with obtaining permission for a new A380 route to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. Emirates is the only Middle Eastern carrier to fly the A380 into Amsterdam but its CEO, Tim Clark, has made no secret of the fact that the airline would like to increase the A380 frequency from one to two per day.
Currently Emirates has two flights/day on the Dubai – Amsterdam route but the second service is served by a Boeing 777-300ER….and that’s, apparently, not enough capacity for Emirates.
Up until recently the stumbling block for the new A380 route was the Dutch government who appeared to be attempting to protect KLM (the Dutch national flag carrier) from the ever-increasing competition from the Middle Easter. Added to that was the fact that the Dutch Pilots’ union was making all kinds of noises about the playing field not being level and generally regurgitating the nonsense being spouted by the big 3 US legacy airlines.
The KLM fleet at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport
It now seems, however, that the Dutch government has conceded that there’s not much it can do to prevent a second Emirates A380 flight into Schiphol.
Business Traveller has reported that:
According to Dutch financial newspaper fd.nl, Sharon Dijksma, the State Secretary for
infrastructure and the Environment emphasises that “Only if it is shown that the companies [airlines] from the UAE do not comply with the provisions of the aviation agreement can we stop the second daily service of the A380.
As the Dutch government favours “open skies” and as its own aviation treaty with the UAE is hardly full of stringent requirements, there wasn’t that much they could do (in the end) to prevent Emirates getting its way.
The decision by the Dutch government means that Emirates can, from 1 February 2016, swap out its 777-300 for a second A380 should it choose to do so. So far there has been no further comment from Emirates but I’d be surprised if we don’t hear from them soon!
Bottom Line
This is good news for travelers and, hopefully, another nail in the coffin for protectionism. The Emirates offering, across all classes, is unquestionably better than anything KLM currently provides, and the pathetic bleating from the Dutch Pilots’ union was just an effort to mask that fact.
One of the biggest ironies in all of this has been the accusation by KLM/Air France that Emirates survives on government subsidies and that they’re not competing on a level playing field. That’s pretty amusing considering Air France has, historically, been one of the most heavily subsidised airlines in the world. With that in mind you’d that they’d be a little more cautious when throwing mud around.
Featured image: Mark Harkin via Flickr.
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