Dubai: A grim outlook coupled with green tax, departure taxes, emission targets and other restrictions in the aviation sector are forcing European airlines to fend off the fast-growing Gulf carriers that are eating into their markets, according to industry officials and analysts.
"The European carriers are launching this verbal war as they are under pressure from their own governments, whether it is departure taxes, emissions targets, or restrictions on growth," Max Sukkhasantikul, Commercial analyst at Frost & Sullivan, told Gulf News.
An Emirates spokesperson told Gulf News yesterday, "We are an audited company, transparent. We have nothing to hide. Anyone can look at our financials. We do not receive subsidies."
Saj Ahmad, a UK-based aviation analyst said, "European airlines have been very slow to seek additional access to the GCC region and it is only natural that the likes of Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways have been routing traffic through Europe and their hubs because competitors do not do much in the way of servicing customers by offering greater choice."
Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said, "Most governments treat aviation as a pariah, choking its growth with costly, misdirected regulation.... They then compound the problem with parasitic forms of taxation that usually flow straight out of the sector."
Policy of no growth
In the UK, the current coalition government has a policy of no growth for aviation although air transport is one of the top two key economic contributors to the country.
"With Gulf carriers growing as much as 20 per cent per annum for some, it is only natural for other carriers to complain about being disadvantaged in order for their local governments to relieve them of the pressures they are facing," Sukkhasantikul, said.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) yesterday said, there are clearer signs now that the post-recession rebound of international air travel is slowing,
"Europe's air traffic management is a mess and it needs to get better," Giovanni Bisignani, IATA Director General and CEO, said.
Some European airlines are pushing the European Union to slow the growth of Emirates and other Gulf carriers, saying the region's status as an air-travel hub is under threat.
