Emirates eyes changes amid 'gathering storm' of low-cost long-haul rivals
Emirates is stripping out costs from its business as it adapts to weaker markets and a stronger dollar and the rise of low-cost long-haul rivals, the carrier's CEO Tim Clark said on Thursday. He added that the airline is facing market changes of which the rise of lower-cost long-haul travel, that he described as a "gathering storm". He stated that "the way people travel, their decisions for traveling, the amount of money they're prepared to pay, new entrants coming to market, long-range single aisles, it's all changing,". More carriers are looking at using new, more efficient longer-range single-aisle planes for routes where they can be cheaper to operate while being easier to fill than widebody planes, whereas Emirates has an exclusively wide-body fleet. Emirates said in January a thousand staff had left the company in the previous three months, largely through natural attrition. A decision on whether to introduce a premium economy class had also not yet been taken. "I can't at this moment say premium economy is the right way to go," Clark said, adding that Emirates wanted to be sure it wouldn't lose business class passengers to premium economy.
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