Face-to-Face: Barry Brown
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This week, Travel Daily chats with Barry Brown, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations East…
Q) Which of your Asian routes are the stand-out performers at present?
Asia has always been a strong focus for Emirates. It’s a vital part of our network and each country has its own distinctive requirements. Our Asian network plays a vital role in supporting demand for European destinations and we see that demand growing in the near to medium term.
We are particularly pleased in the growth from cities such Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Thailand continues to be very popular both inbound and outbound and early bookings to Bali, that we will launch on 3rd June, are doing very well.
Q) And which Asian countries are showing the strongest growth, in terms of being the source of passenger bookings?
There are a number of key markets for us in Asia and difficult to single out individual countries. Thailand and Hong Kong are particularly strong but we see continued demand in the Chinese market as well. Asia’s economy is still outpacing other regions so we expect growth to be strong.
Q) And are you seeing a rise in Asian bookings for connecting flights to, say, Europe and North America?
Yes. Apart from our in-flight services, our network is also a key choice in choosing Emirates. The third service to JFK is proving a popular choice from Asia as is our expanding network. Our European coverage is a major drawcard for Emirates with 36 cities all available with a seamless one stop connection at our Dubai hub. This makes us hugely popular with consumers that can arrive in one European city and either, cruise, rail or drive to depart from another location at no additional cost. It also alleviates the need to backhaul domestically to more traditional gateways.
Q) Emirates already flies to Phuket and will launch flights to Bali this summer; do you have any other Asian resort destinations in your sights?
We are constantly researching and reviewing our network and we are always looking for new destinations that are the right commercial fit. We have some clear targets to explore but nothing to announce at this point. However, be assured that we will be expanding the network in the very near future.
Q) You already fly the Airbus A380 to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai; as you receive more A380s, which other Asian cities do you think have the potential to accommodate A380 flights?
We often fly one-off A380 aircraft into certain destinations at times to test both the consumer response and the operational/commercial aspects of running an A380 service to certain destinations. Stay tuned as we will soon be announcing more A380 services to destinations within Asia. We are confident that Asian consumers will enjoy the many features onboard Emirates’ flagship A380.
Q) And what further Asian expansion can we expect to see from Emirates in the near future?
We will continue to expand both our A380 and B777 services which are extremely popular with Asian customers and continue to seek out new destinations in Europe that are attractive to the Asian markets we serve.
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