On Tuesday April 26, Gulf News reporter Alexander Cornwell sat for a video interview with Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates airline and Group, at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

Shaikh Ahmad’s comments appeared in two articles in the print edition of Gulf News on Wednesday April 27 on Emirate’s views on growth and the new head of IATA. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.

Gulf News: Your Highness thank you for speaking with Gulf News today at the Arabian Travel Market. Two months from now the United Kingdom will vote in a referendum where it will decide to stay or leave the European Union. If it leaves, this will have economic ramifications for the world. How do you see this impacting the travel sector and particularly Emirates which flies to a number of destinations in the kingdom?

Shaikh Ahmad: The decision is for the Brits to decide. I am sure the British people are wise enough to decide what’s good for Britain [but] I think everybody expects them to stay. This is what we are hearing and we hear also the odds are three to one that they will be staying.

We have a good bilateral [agreement] with the British and also with many other countries within the EU. We see that they want Emirates, they want the product. [Emirates flights] have made a lot of difference to their airports. In Britain we have increased our flights to Heathrow [where] we are going to six flights [with the Airbus] A380s.

GN: Are you concerned though that if Britain was to leave it would have an impact on the global travel sector? Some analysts say there would be drop in travel both to and from the United Kingdom if they were to leave.

SA: I don’t think that the travel [will be affected]. As a destination [the United Kingdom] is still one of the destinations a lot of passenger want to go to … It’s an excellent market regardless of the decision.

GN: It’s been a difficult time for the travel sector over the past 12 months where we have seen the bombing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt, terrorist attacks in Paris and in Brussels. How do you see the next 12 months for the travel sector in particular for Emirates and the destination it flies to?

SA: I’m always thinking in a positive way and this is the way we are here in Dubai … We deal with whatever comes our way and we’ve tried to manage it … We have seen in the last couple of years many destinations that have been closed for reasons beyond our control … But we managed to grow the business, the destinations that we fly to and so on. So I think 2016 will be a good year and you see it from the number of aircraft that we see coming to the Emirates fleet. We will be receiving this year 37 aircraft, 21 [Airbus] A380s and 16 [Boeing] 777s. Of course there are some aircraft, older aircraft that will be going out of the fleet but still that’s a huge capacity that we will add up. We are opening new destinations, a couple in China and also to other points within that Asian region.

GN: Is Asia where you see Emirates growing in the coming years or do see more growth in mature markets such as the United Kingdom and the United States?

SA: I think it’s all over. Still you look at Africa there is big room for growth within Africa. Asia, China, the Indian Subcontinent, Europe … we are also in the process of taking and opening new destinations in the years to come … in Europe.

GN: Alexandre de Juniac the chief executive of Air France-KLM is about to become the IATA (International Air Transport Association) Director General where he is supposed to represent the interest of all airlines. In the past, as chief executive of Air France, he has opposed the growth of the big three Gulf carriers, including your airline Emirates, do you think he is the right person for the job? Can he be a neutral representative of all airlines?

SA: I think he should be a neutral representative if he is in the IATA because IATA is about all the airlines under one umbrella and they should really be discussing more positive ways of [where] the aviation sector … is going. I’m sure whoever will be selected, and I’m sure people who should be selecting him, they should really see that as the way.

GN: And what happens if Mr. de Juniac is appointed and he represents only a certain bloc like he’s done in the past that were anti-Gulf carriers?

SA: Yeah but it’s different. Before maybe he was representing a country or an airline but now he’s not on his own. It’s not his sole decision where to take IATA.

GN: In 2015, there was an aggressive campaign by American carriers against Emirates and other Gulf airlines trying to stop them from growing in the United States. So far this year we’ve heard little noise on that front. Do you think that campaign is over?

SA: There is no issue on the bilateral [agreement]. The bilateral still exists between the UAE and America … Now I would say the ball is in the American court at the White House. We didn’t hear anything so far from them. I think we put up our case in regard of talking about subsidies to the [US] airlines and we would really prove that those are the right figures.

GN: Is there more expansion coming into the United States? Can we see Emirates flying to more than ten cities in the United States soon?

SA: Oh, yeah. I think within the future we’ll always be looking [at more destinations] to cover. There [are] many US states who are really interested.

GN: For over a year now, Emirates has been calling on Airbus to commit to building a re-engine, more fuel efficient version of the A380, a flagship aircraft in the Emirates fleet. Have you had any commitments from Airbus on whether they will build this aircraft?

SA: The A380 is one of the [flagship aircraft] today for Emirates besides the 777, also a beautiful aircraft that we fly … We will always want really to see this big [aircraft] to continue. Still at 77 aircraft to be delivered so far to Emirates and we should see this number going to 142. And this is why we recently also bought two new ones.

GN: But still no confirmation from Airbus on whether they will build the A380 “neo?”

SA: We have to see what Airbus will come up to.

GN: Earlier this year, Airbus’ chief sales executive John Leahy said that even if Emirates wanted the plane they couldn’t take the A380neo until the mid-2020s because of congestion at Dubai International. How busy is that airport getting and what does that mean for your growth?

SA: You know I think with the process now of building the new airport, Al Maktoum Airport, with the first expansion which should finish late next year 2017 and that should give Al Maktoum International capacity of 25 million plus the second phase of Al Maktoum, which is the 90 plus million passenger. So we will have two airports with a capacity of more than 200 million and I think that will be no issue to deal with … It is tight at Dubai International because of the runway capacity but it is something that we are dealing with and the A380 has helped a lot.

GN: Your Highness, once again thank you for taking the time to speak with Gulf News today. The Emirates financial year ended on March 31st and you’re expected to report your financial results in the coming days, can you give us an idea of what they look like?

SA: The total number of people that we [flew] should be above 50 million passengers … We should see, really, a good result for Emirates … As you know we publish our numbers really a month after the end of the financial year and I don’t think there is any company that do that within just one month … so we are [in] the last week of confirming all the numbers and figures.

 

The full video interview can be found at www.GulfNews.com/multimedia/gntv