Emirates and flydubai are now “almost a merger”, according to Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer.
That comment was made last year – and since then, the pair have revealed they
wish to become closer still. Key to this is flydubai’s fleet of 737 narrowbodies,
which nicely complement Emirates’ widebodies.
Emirates and hybrid airline flydubai are increasingly working together.
Since resuming their strategic codeshare partnership in September 2020, almost
500,000 passengers have flown on the combined network, according to Emirates. The chairman
and CEO of the Emirates Group, and also chairman of flydubai, Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, said:
“The Emirates and flydubai partnership continues to grow steadily to offer
travelers even better connectivity to Dubai, and through Dubai to an extensive global network.
We are seeing strong customer take-up and are excited to take the partnership
to the next level by expanding services to new destinations.”Since the partnership began in 2017,
they have developed extensive codeshares, used the same frequent flyer program,
aligned schedules, harmonized their networks, and focused on reducing connection times.
flydubai now has 22 destinations from Emirates’ Terminal 3 in Dubai while the pair are attempting
to further improve connections between Terminal 3 and Terminal 2, which is where most flydubai
flights operate.They have also right-sized routes. For example, flydubai replaced Emirates to Zagreb,
initially winter-seasonally but then fully, along with replacing the larger
airline to the likes of Mashhad, Multan, and Yangon. This freed up Emirates’ widebodies
so they could be better used elsewhere. Conversely, flydubai ended Bangkok, Dhaka,
and more, with Emirates itself boosting its presence in these core markets. This freed up
flydubai’s aircraft for new routes.In mid-2020, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer, Adnan Kazim,
said that growing cooperation between the pair of airlines might be “almost a merger”. Key in this,
Kazim said, are each carrier’s aircraft and what they’re able to do with them.
flydubai uses 737-800s and MAX aircraft, the latter fitted with lie-flat seats. It has over
200 MAX aircraft on order. In contrast, Emirates obviously only uses widebodies, the smallest of
which are currently 302-seat 777-200LRs. The bigger brother has made it clear how it needs
smaller aircraft, a role that flydubai will increasingly fulfill. As Kazim commented:
“Going forward, we cannot sustain long-term operating on that kind of fleet… we need to
inject the smaller type… the aircraft available in [flydubai’s] fleet today are part of our plans
and therefore we should make the most of the aircraft of the two carriers.”
If both carriers’ networks are combined, they together have 181 destinations this coming July,
analyzing OAG schedules indicates. This highlights the strength of their combined network.
In contrast, Qatar Airways – which keenly uses narrowbodies to launch niche and thinner routes
– has 139 destinations from Doha, while it’s 247 for Turkish Airlines out of Istanbul Airport.
Of these 181 destinations, Emirates serves 115 while flydubai has 97 with an overlap of just
31- a strong indication of how much they could benefit from a closer relationship.
Have you had an itinerary that used both airlines?
If so, what was it like? Let us know in the comments!