Dubai-based airline eyes daily flights to Toronto

Dubai-based airline eyes daily flights to Toronto
Emirates carrier to add Venice, Sao Paulo this year

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines is pushing for an Open Skies agreement between Canada and the United Arab Emirates to better serve trade and tourism between the countries.

Emirates will begin flying several times a week between Toronto and Dubai at the end of October, but the ever-expanding airline has its eye on daily flights to Canada's most populist city, according to Nigel Page, Emirates vice-president of commercial operations in the Americas.

"We have made no secret of the fact that we really do want to have daily service to Toronto," he said in an interview yesterday.

"At the moment we only have rights to three flights a week to Canada, which is obviously very restrictive."

Emirates is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. After starting with two leased planes in 1985, it now operates 108 aircraft and has another 112 on order. It is expected to place another order for about 100 more mid-sized planes in the coming months.

The airline serves 93 destinations in 59 countries, and will add Venice, Sao Paulo, Newcastle, and Houston this year, in addition to Toronto, its first Canadian destination, on Oct. 29.

"If a bilateral agreement between the UAE and Canada is liberalized, I believe we would look to other points in Canada," Mr. Page said.

Emirates' expansion plans, however, are stuck on the runway for the foreseeable future. Under the current air agreement with the U.A.E., there are six slots a week available for all U.A.E. airlines to fly to Canada, according to Lucie Vignola, Transport Canada spokeswoman. No airline from the country can fly more than three of those routes a week. Etihad Airways already flies three times a week between Toronto and Abu Dhabi.

When Emirates begins flights in October, it will be the first time the agreement has hit capacity since it was signed in 2001 and it is not a priority of the government to renegotiate it at this time, Ms. Vignola said.

Emirates argues that opening up the skies will not only help tourism between the countries, but would also open Dubai's US$46-billion economy to Canadian businesses.

There were about 115 Canadian companies doing business in the U.A.E. in 2006 -- about a 30% increase over the previous year -- from high-tech companies, such as flight simulator manufacturer CAE Inc., to consumer companies like Aldo and Bata shoes, to franchises such as Second Cup, Mr. Page said.

"Clearly, Canadian companies are seeing tremendous potential in the U.A.E.," he said.

He questioned the motives behind Canada's protectionist tactics when both its major carriers, Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd., are running a profit.

"The honest answer is, airlines were traditionally government-owned with the government quite often putting huge subsidies into the airlines. They wanted to protect their investment," he said.

"But today, many of these government-owned airlines have been privatized and therefore the rationale for restricting traffic rights really isn't there anymore."

Emirates has come under fire in the past for doing just that by both Australia's Qantas Airways and Air France, which accused the wholly-government owned airline of receiving unfair federal subsidies to fund its expansion into their respective markets.

However, Mr. Page said Emirates, which was started with a $10-million loan from the Dubai government, receives no subsidies and funds its expansion by being profitable every year, except its second, since it began operations.

Last year, the airline had a record profit of US$942-million.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/fina ... feaa266995