6 minute read
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS
In an exclusive interview with Ian Fairservice for Business Traveller, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and CEO and Founder of the Emirates Group, provides insight into the current and future state of travel and Emirates’ pivotal role in getting the industry back on track
LEFT: HH Sheikh Ahmed ABOVE: Sheikh Ahmed: “It’s essential for Dubai to remain open for international flows of goods and people” S heikh Ahmed on the economic outlook for Dubai and the travel sector in 2021 Dubai’s economy has weathered the pandemic impact well. We are in a strong position and recently reported double-digit economic growth in Q1 2021 compared to a year ago. This achievement was made possible by the government’s stimulus packages and proactive policies, which helped contain the pandemic and mitigate its repercussions on different sectors. It also shows the resilience of the Dubai economy, which has been built on years of investments in infrastructure across diverse sectors, supported by good governance.
As a global business hub for trade, travel and tourism, it’s essential for Dubai to remain open for international flows of goods and people. That is something that we managed to achieve much earlier than most other countries, again thanks to good policies, clear leadership and public-private
sector co-operation. A year ago, in July 2020, Dubai already opened for business and international travellers with health and safety protocols DUBAI TOURISM in place. When vaccines became available, our nation rolled out one of the world’s most successful vaccination campaigns. All of this contributes to creating high levels of global confidence in Dubai, attracting visitors, major trade events, as well as businesses and investments. On summer expectations for travel Countries are progressing with their vaccination programmes and implementing protocols for the safe resumption of international travel. Markets like the US, France, Italy, and popular holiday destinations like the Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles and Phuket are now open for quarantine-free travel, and we have seen a corresponding spike in travel bookings.
To meet this demand, Emirates is boosting its summer schedules with additional flights layered onto high traffic routes. By the end of July, we will have restarted flights to half a dozen more cities, taking our network to 90 per cent of what it was pre-pandemic. Our A380s will be flying to 15 cities, and we will have launched a new destination in the US, Miami. On the prospects of the UAE being removed from the UK’s red list Unfortunately, the UK has not really expanded its green list since April, and the UAE is still on the red list. It is frustrating for aviation and travel companies, but more so for the many people who are desperate to see their families and travel for work. There are many business and community ties between the UAE and UK, and those
ABOVE: HH Sheikh Ahmed with Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner and Group Editor-inChief at Motivate who must travel between both countries are forced to do so via a third stopover point, which doesn’t make much sense from a pandemic control standpoint.
The UAE continues to have regular dialogue with the UK and we hope to resume these vital air connections soon.
On digital health passports We welcome any move to standardise document verification for travel and any initiative that will make things easier for travellers and airport teams, especially as travel requirements continue to change on a daily basis. The IATA Travel Pass was developed to address this issue and Emirates was one of the first airlines to trial it. Initially, we launched it on a few routes and monitored the feedback to help improve the product. So far it is working well, and we are looking at plans to expand the use of IATA Travel Pass to more points across our network.
On expectations for the events sector Recent surveys conducted on the international exhibitions industry have delivered an optimistic outlook for the sector. Conference and events industry professionals believe exhibitions will be as important as they were pre-COVID, particularly for the face-to-face business opportunities at sector-specific trade shows. Dubai also has earned a high vote of confidence from the events industry, having demonstrated its ability to safely host a range of large-scale international events and exhibitions over the past eight months. Supported by our nation’s successful vaccination campaign and clear protocols to facilitate international visitors, we are seeing a healthy pipeline of events and exhibitions in the Dubai calendar for the coming months.
On pandemic-driven travel trends Travellers expect to be safe, comfortable and enjoy good service. Due to the pandemic, airlines and travel operators have had to adjust how they deliver on these expectations while still offering a great customer experience.
At Emirates, we have worked hard to meet our customers’ needs and remain their top airline choice. We have implemented bio-safety protocols, modified our services, and fast-tracked initiatives like biometrics processing and contactless check-in at the airport. We also provided generous waivers and flexibility in case our customers had to change their travel plans, offered free comprehensive travel insurance including COVID-19 medical cover, and invested resources to ensure that the latest travel information is easily available to our customers. On Emirates’ future fleet requirements Emirates’ business model remains unchanged. It will always be a full service, high quality, international hub airline that connects the world to, and through Dubai. We have built our fleet and placed future fleet investments with that in mind, including our orders for A350, B787 and B777x aircraft. Emirates is constantly in dialogue with the manufacturers on our requirements. At this time there’s no change to our order book. On the impact of COVID-19 on business-related air travel Corporate and business travel took a hit during the pandemic as global meetings and events came to halt and companies froze business travel. But online meetings can never replace face-to-face interactions and we firmly believe business travel will recover when travel restrictions are lifted. DUBAI TOURISM During the worst of the global lockdowns, Emirates worked closely with corporate and business customers to help their people get to where they needed to be – whether for repatriation or essential travel. We also offered generous waivers, rebooking flexibility, insurance cover and other value-added services. As travel restrictions ease and business activity resumes across markets, we will continue to provide bespoke support for our corporate and business customers. Incentives and services will differ depending on the specific sector and organisational requirements; for instance, we have teams focused on MICE travel, the Cruise segment, and our Business Rewards programme, which caters to Small and Medium Sized companies (SMEs). On the ‘Expo effect’ Dubai is already seeing healthy levels of visitation as one of the few global cities open to international travellers with the safe resumption of leisure and commercial activity. We expect Expo 2020 Dubai to further boost visitor numbers and the event is definitely the highlight for ‘Destination Dubai’ for the remainder of 2021 until April 2022. The Expo team, Emirates, and all travel and tourism stakeholders are gearing up to promote this mega event and to make it the focal point for accelerating the world’s post-pandemic recovery. Our work to support and incentivise corporate groups and business travel to the Expo began months ago, in close co-ordination with the Expo team, event sponsors and partners. The response has been very positive so far. Broader consumer campaigns and marketing activity will ramp up in the coming months, so stay tuned!
FROM TOP LEFT:
Emirates was one of the first airlines to trial the IATA Travel Pass; Emirates has fasttracked initiatives like biometrics processing; Emirates is optimistic business travel and events will bounce back
