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I have flown the competition, and I am in awe.
Everyone in the airline business seems to be afraid of Emirates. They are the one to beat, or at least contain. Having just flown EK’s A380 in Y, and experienced their new F Lounge in DXB's T3 Concourse A, I can see why.
I do not work in the airline industry –- my impressions are all from the outside in, as a customer and a flyer – but even from that perspective it does seem that Emirates is growing from strength to strength, and getting many things right.
They are also quite over-the-top in some ways, pampering the high end, while simultaneously managing to handle low-margin business quite astutely.
Emirates, like SQ, are an airline success story. But EK and SQ are such different airlines, with many differences in product and philosophy, which go far beyond “showers or no showers on the A380”.
I see the rivalry between EK and SQ as being largely healthy for pax and maybe even the industry as a whole, with each introducing one innovation after another to stay ahead. Both airlines are at the top of their game, and play in largely separate markets, although where the markets intersect, the competition is brutal…
I am sure both EK and SQ observe each other closely like opponents in a chess match, although in some ways a poker game is a better analogy for the airline industry.
I recently spent a week in Islamabad, Pakistan – only my second time there in 10 years. There are several ways to get there from Singapore. The easiest are via BKK or DXB. Most of my colleagues prefer to fly via BKK as this is a shorter route, whereas flying via DXB involves some backtracking. However, I’ve never really found anything unique about TG, and I believe they tend to put their older planes on the BKK-ISB route.
I’ve always wanted to try out EK’s A380. EK had a very competitive fare for SIN-DXB-ISB in economy class. Also, my Qantas Platinum FF benefits (The only good thing to come out of the QF/Emirates "partnership"...in inverted commas because I have yet to figure out how QF has benefited from this...) would allow me to sample the Emirates F Lounge. These factors sealed the argument in favour of flying to ISB via DXB on Emirates.
This TR covers SIN-DXB on an Emirates A380 then DXB-ISB on a two-class 777-300ER. I would spend a week in Islamabad, before heading back the same way ISB-DXB, spending a day in Dubai before heading back to SIN on a very new EK A380, with a newer Y cabin product than on my outbound flight. While in DXB, I would also sample the Emirates First Lounge in T3 Concourse A, a dedicated A380 concourse, with 18 A380-ready departure gates, and direct F and J Lounge access to the departure gates.
I stayed at both the Islamabad Marriott, and the Serena Hotel– the top hotels there, located within the so-called “Red Zone”, a highly protected area of Islamabad where the Pakistani Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the PM’s Office are.
My impressions of Emirates coming up, as well as a glimpse of Islamabad…
Everyone in the airline business seems to be afraid of Emirates. They are the one to beat, or at least contain. Having just flown EK’s A380 in Y, and experienced their new F Lounge in DXB's T3 Concourse A, I can see why.
I do not work in the airline industry –- my impressions are all from the outside in, as a customer and a flyer – but even from that perspective it does seem that Emirates is growing from strength to strength, and getting many things right.
They are also quite over-the-top in some ways, pampering the high end, while simultaneously managing to handle low-margin business quite astutely.
Emirates, like SQ, are an airline success story. But EK and SQ are such different airlines, with many differences in product and philosophy, which go far beyond “showers or no showers on the A380”.
I see the rivalry between EK and SQ as being largely healthy for pax and maybe even the industry as a whole, with each introducing one innovation after another to stay ahead. Both airlines are at the top of their game, and play in largely separate markets, although where the markets intersect, the competition is brutal…
I am sure both EK and SQ observe each other closely like opponents in a chess match, although in some ways a poker game is a better analogy for the airline industry.
I recently spent a week in Islamabad, Pakistan – only my second time there in 10 years. There are several ways to get there from Singapore. The easiest are via BKK or DXB. Most of my colleagues prefer to fly via BKK as this is a shorter route, whereas flying via DXB involves some backtracking. However, I’ve never really found anything unique about TG, and I believe they tend to put their older planes on the BKK-ISB route.
I’ve always wanted to try out EK’s A380. EK had a very competitive fare for SIN-DXB-ISB in economy class. Also, my Qantas Platinum FF benefits (The only good thing to come out of the QF/Emirates "partnership"...in inverted commas because I have yet to figure out how QF has benefited from this...) would allow me to sample the Emirates F Lounge. These factors sealed the argument in favour of flying to ISB via DXB on Emirates.
This TR covers SIN-DXB on an Emirates A380 then DXB-ISB on a two-class 777-300ER. I would spend a week in Islamabad, before heading back the same way ISB-DXB, spending a day in Dubai before heading back to SIN on a very new EK A380, with a newer Y cabin product than on my outbound flight. While in DXB, I would also sample the Emirates First Lounge in T3 Concourse A, a dedicated A380 concourse, with 18 A380-ready departure gates, and direct F and J Lounge access to the departure gates.
I stayed at both the Islamabad Marriott, and the Serena Hotel– the top hotels there, located within the so-called “Red Zone”, a highly protected area of Islamabad where the Pakistani Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the PM’s Office are.
My impressions of Emirates coming up, as well as a glimpse of Islamabad…
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