EMIRATES’ market share of
international flights from South
Africa will be stronger than ever
from the third quarter of this year.
The airline will introduce a fourth
daily Johannesburg flight from the end
of October, departing at 09h30 and
arriving in Dubai at 19h40.
The flight will be operated by a
B777. This will bring the total number
of flights to South Africa to seven
daily – four to Johannesburg, two
to Cape Town and one to Durban
– upping capacity to around 2 000
seats from South Africa to Dubai.
According to the Centre for Aviation,
Emirates currently has a share of
almost 10% of international seat
capacity in South Africa, excluding
the additional flight. This is followed
by British Airways, which holds 8,5%.
SAA has 40% of the market.
As it is, European carriers are
struggling to compete with their Gulf
counterparts. Tamur Goudarzi-Pour,
Lufthansa’s vp for the Middle East,
Africa and Southeast Europe, told
TNW that as a result of competition
from Gulf carriers, there was an
overcapacity on the SA route. “We
are committed to Africa, and plan to
stay but we need to look at sensible
capacity allocations, particularly in
Johannesburg, and ensure we have
profitable operations.
“We welcome competition on an
even playing field but there are
certain advantages given by the state
to state-sponsored carriers that we
do not receive as a purely marketdriven
airline. The playing field is not
level,” he said.
Sailesh Parbhu, md of XL Nexus
Travel, says the additional daily flight
is in line with demand. He says when
Emirates reduced the Johannesburg
flights to two a day due to runway
upgrades it caused a problem,
especially for the mid-year school
holidays. He adds that the airline’s
aggressive pricing, good connections
and growing international network are
resulting in increased demand.
But Jonathan Gerber, director of
TAG, says there is only seasonal
demand and that it is not ongoing.
He says SA agents won’t necessarily
benefit from the additional capacity
as not many of the seats are open to
the South African market.
“In the past Emirates was the
go-to airline in terms of price; I
believe that, with its origin and
destination policy, this no longer the
case.” Jonathan explains that this
is because Emirates can get better
yields out of other markets. As a
result, the South African market is
locked out initially, particularly in the
lower classes. Then, as it gets closer
to the travel date and seats are still
available, the airline opens access to
the SA market.
“We are now getting access to far
better fares in advance on other
carriers. I think that the airlines will
continue to compete on this basis.”
Jonathan adds that currently he
doesn’t believe there is overcapacity
of international flights and that Gulf
carriers offer a specific need that
doesn’t suit all clients.
