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The business of Emirates Airline

3 March 2007

As Emirates Airline (code EK) continues to build a long haul network to every corner of the world this article is based upon some earlier research on Airliners.net and looks at the the airline's operational model in detail based on data for the 5th March 2007, a typical day's work for the EK fleet.

Some details first:

The airline was established in May 1985 by the Dubai government. It started operations with flights to Mumbai and Delhi followed by Karachi in September 1985.

The first European destination to be added in July 1987 was London Gatwick. Far Eastern operations commenced to Singapore in June 1990.

Having provided an initial start-up capital of US$10m plus and an additional investment of circa US$80m at the time of the airline's inception the Dubai government is the sole owner of the company. However, it does not put any new money into it, nor does it interfere with running the airline.

EK operates an all widebody fleet resulting in lower unit costs compared with airlines operating mixed narrow/wide-body fleets. This enables Emirates to use these aircraft's cargo capacity to boost its overall revenues and total profits, especially at times when the passenger business passes through a seasonal trough or when an economic downturn adversely impacts the passenger numbers. Its Dubai hub also allows it to take advantage of increasing cargo business between China/India and West Africa. The existing passenger fleet is:

Since the airline's home base of Dubai is such a small local market EK is dependent upon building a long haul hub and spoke model for its ambitious growth plans. The aim is to allow passengers to easily and effectively connect through Dubai. A model not dissimilar to Singapore Airlines but with faster growth rates and perhaps some geographical advantage.

The data used here is for 5th March 2007. The data is inevitably not accurate for other periods and does not reflect the changes coming in the summer schedules and the addition of new routes later in the year. The overall pattern is consistent day today and week to week.

Dubai Departures

How do the waves work at Dubai; firstly there are no flight time restrictions; Dubai has no curfew. There are two main departure waves and three smaller waves centered around these times:

02.00-04.00 A key time for long haul departures mainly Eastbound to Asia. Also New York.

07.00-10.00 The main departure bank with flights North to Europe, south to Africa and flights to Australia.

14.00 - 16.30 A second departure bank for European flights

22.00 - 23.00 and also 01.00 - 02.00 two smaller departure banks for regional destinations in the Gulf and to South Asia.

Graphically departures on 5 March look like this per hour:

Passenger flights: Eastbound flights are evenly numbered; westbound are odd numbers.

Details of all passenger flights departing on 5 March are as follows:

Bank 1

EK203 5/3/2007 2:00 New York JFK
EK552 5/3/2007 2:25 Male
EK420 5/3/2007 2:35 Perth
EK314 5/3/2007 2:45 Nagoya - Japan
EK404 5/3/2007 2:45 Melbourne
EK316 5/3/2007 2:50 Osaka Kansai
EK011 5/3/2007 2:50 London Gatwick
EK556 5/3/2007 2:50 Colombo
EK544 5/3/2007 3:00 Chennai ›Madrasœ
EK612 5/3/2007 3:00 Islamabad
EK322 5/3/2007 3:00 Incheon Int±l Airport
EK306 5/3/2007 3:00 Beijing
EK007 5/3/2007 3:10 London Heathrow
EK346 5/3/2007 3:15 Jakarta Cengekareng
EK384 5/3/2007 3:15 Hongkong via Bangkok
EK332 5/3/2007 3:20 Manila
EK302 5/3/2007 3:25 Shanghai Pu Dong
EK761 5/3/2007 3:50 Johannesburg

Bank 2

EK961 5/3/2007 7:10 Sanaa
EK095 5/3/2007 7:30 Nizza ›Cote d Azurœ
EK855 5/3/2007 7:45 Kuwait
EK001 5/3/2007 7:45 London Heathrow
EK025 5/3/2007 7:50 Glasgow Intl
EK751 5/3/2007 7:50 Casablanca Mohamed
EK971 5/3/2007 7:55 Imam Khomeni Intl Airport
EK017 5/3/2007 7:55 Manchester
EK073 5/3/2007 8:00 Paris Charles de Gaulle
EK600 5/3/2007 8:00 Karachi
EK039 5/3/2007 8:05 Birmingham
EK107 5/3/2007 8:15 Malta
EK098 5/3/2007 8:20 Milan Malpensa
EK015 5/3/2007 8:20 London Gatwick
EK841 5/3/2007 8:25 Doha
EK862 5/3/2007 8:25 Muscat
EK723 5/3/2007 8:25 Entebbe
EK837 5/3/2007 8:30 Bahrain
EK201 5/3/2007 8:30 New York JFK
EK049 5/3/2007 8:35 Muenchen
EK045 5/3/2007 8:40 Frankfurt Rhein/Main Airport
EK432 5/3/2007 8:40 Auckland
EK087 5/3/2007 8:45 Zurich
EK055 5/3/2007 8:50 Duesseldorf
EK205 5/3/2007 8:55 New York JFK
EK749 5/3/2007 9:00 Tripoli
EK418 5/3/2007 9:05 Auckland
EK342 5/3/2007 9:10 Kuala Lumpur
EK344 5/3/2007 9:10 Singapore
EK127 5/3/2007 9:10 Vienna
EK931 5/3/2007 9:10 Borg El Arab
EK133 5/3/2007 9:30 Moscow ›Domodedovoœ
EK105 5/3/2007 9:35 Athens Hellinikon
EK424 5/3/2007 9:35 Perth
EK380 5/3/2007 9:40 Hongkong
EK029 5/3/2007 9:50 London Heathrow
EK783 5/3/2007 9:50 Lagos
EK725 5/3/2007 10:00 Dar es Salaam
EK606 5/3/2007 10:00 Karachi
EK412 5/3/2007 10:00 Christchurch
EK719 5/3/2007 10:05 Nairobi
EK406 5/3/2007 10:10 Auckland
EK763 5/3/2007 10:15 Johannesburg

Bank 3

EK516 5/3/2007 12:05 Bangalore
EK584 5/3/2007 13:15 Dhaka
EK502 5/3/2007 13:30 Mumbai ›Bombayœ
EK843 5/3/2007 13:30 Doha

EK9989 5/3/2007 14:00 Amsterdam
EK903 5/3/2007 14:00 Amman
EK911 5/3/2007 14:00 Damaskus
EK047 5/3/2007 14:30 Frankfurt Rhein/Main Airport
EK003 5/3/2007 14:30 London Heathrow
EK019 5/3/2007 14:35 Manchester
EK520 5/3/2007 14:40 Trivandrum
EK009 5/3/2007 14:45 London Gatwick
EK121 5/3/2007 14:50 Istanbul Ataturk
EK057 5/3/2007 14:55 Duesseldorf
EK075 5/3/2007 15:00 Paris Charles de Gaulle
EK733 5/3/2007 15:00 Khartoum
EK721 5/3/2007 15:05 Nairobi
EK037 5/3/2007 15:10 Birmingham
EK923 5/3/2007 15:50 Cairo
EK857 5/3/2007 16:10 Kuwait
EK825 5/3/2007 16:15 Dammam
EK085 5/3/2007 16:20 Zurich
EK005 5/3/2007 16:30 London Heathrow
EK051 5/3/2007 16:30 Muenchen
EK803 5/3/2007 16:45 Jeddah King Abdulaziz Intl

EK953 5/3/2007 17:00 Beirut
EK839 5/3/2007 18:00 Bahrain
EK602 5/3/2007 18:15 Karachi
EK817 5/3/2007 18:40 Riyadh King Khaled Intl
EK4950 5/3/2007 20:00 Islamabad
EK859 5/3/2007 20:50 Kuwait

Bank 4

EK518 5/3/2007 21:50 Bangalore
EK622 5/3/2007 22:05 Lahore
EK845 5/3/2007 22:15 Doha
EK500 5/3/2007 22:30 Mumbai ›Bombayœ
EK864 5/3/2007 22:45 Muscat

Bank 5

EK975 5/3/2007 1:15 Imam Khomeni Intl Airport
EK604 5/3/2007 1:30 Karachi
EK582 5/3/2007 1:45 Dhaka
EK847 5/3/2007 1:45 Doha
EK546 5/3/2007 1:50 Kolkata

DXB Arrivals

EK's flight arrivals are also structured in waves of arriving flights; these are designed primarily to connect with the departure banks detailed above.

There are two main arrival banks as can be seen in this chart; other arrivals are insignificant compared to the volumes between 04.00-06.00 and 23.00 - 01.00.

The 04.00-06.00 arrivals are the major overnight arrivals bringing traffic from the entire network and feeding into the 7-10am departure bank to Europe, Africa and Australia.

The 23.00-01.00 arrivals are the daylight arrival bank (flights that left in the European day) that are mainly inbound European traffic and feed to the 2-4am eastbound departures.

The two secondary arrival banks are from 11.00-13.00 with regional and some S Asia traffic feeding into the 2-4pm European departures. The 7-9pm arrivals bank feeds into the 10pm regional and S Asia departures.

Bank 1

EK030 5/3/2007 3:25 London Heathrow
EK784 5/3/2007 3:25 Lagos
EK352 5/3/2007 3:45 Singapore
EK307 5/3/2007 4:50 Beijing
EK848 5/3/2007 5:00 Doha
EK385 5/3/2007 5:00 Hongkong
EK303 5/3/2007 5:10 Shanghai Pu Dong
EK764 5/3/2007 5:15 Johannesburg
EK335 5/3/2007 5:20 Manila
EK048 5/3/2007 5:25 Frankfurt Rhein/Main Airport
EK413 5/3/2007 5:30 Christchurch
EK323 5/3/2007 5:35 Incheon Int±l Airport
EK722 5/3/2007 5:35 Nairobi
EK559 5/3/2007 5:40 Colombo
EK407 5/3/2007 5:40 Auckland
EK405 5/3/2007 5:45 Melbourne
EK421 5/3/2007 5:45 Perth
EK349 5/3/2007 5:45 Jakarta Cengekareng
EK623 5/3/2007 5:50 Lahore
EK702 5/3/2007 5:50 Mauritius
EK419 5/3/2007 5:55 Auckland
EK501 5/3/2007 6:00 Mumbai ›Bombayœ
EK788 5/3/2007 6:05 Abidjan
EK317 5/3/2007 6:05 Osaka Kansai
EK058 5/3/2007 6:05 Duesseldorf
EK315 5/3/2007 6:10 Nagoya - Japan
EK433 5/3/2007 6:15 Auckland
EK387 5/3/2007 6:25 Hongkong
EK513 5/3/2007 6:30 New Delhi
EK052 5/3/2007 6:30 Muenchen
EK076 5/3/2007 6:40 Paris Charles de Gaulle
EK020 5/3/2007 6:40 Manchester
EK525 5/3/2007 6:40 Hyderabad
EK976 5/3/2007 6:40 Imam Khomeni Intl Airport
EK605 5/3/2007 6:45 Karachi
EK004 5/3/2007 6:45 London Heathrow
EK086 5/3/2007 6:45 Zurich
EK010 5/3/2007 7:00 London Gatwick
EK523 5/3/2007 7:05 Trivandrum
EK038 5/3/2007 7:25 Birmingham
EK204 5/3/2007 7:50 New York JFK


Bank 2

EK006 5/3/2007 8:45 London Heathrow

EK613 5/3/2007 11:05 Islamabad
EK842 5/3/2007 11:45 Doha
EK863 5/3/2007 11:45 Muscat
EK838 5/3/2007 12:00 Bahrain
EK856 5/3/2007 12:10 Kuwait
EK545 5/3/2007 12:30 Chennai ›Madrasœ
EK381 5/3/2007 12:45 Hongkong
EK547 5/3/2007 12:55 Kolkata
EK583 5/3/2007 13:00 Dhaka
EK601 5/3/2007 13:15 Karachi
EK425 5/3/2007 13:15 Perth
EK972 5/3/2007 13:20 Imam Khomeni Intl Airport
EK962 5/3/2007 13:45 Sanaa

Bank 3

EK552 5/3/2007 14:50 Colombo
EK3904 5/3/2007 15:00 Amman
EK607 5/3/2007 15:15 Karachi
EK556 5/3/2007 15:30 Male
EK844 5/3/2007 16:15 Doha
EK932 5/3/2007 18:35 Borg El Arab
EK008 5/3/2007 19:25 London Heathrow
EK826 5/3/2007 20:10 Dammam
EK202 5/3/2007 20:35 New York JFK
EK858 5/3/2007 20:40 Kuwait
EK503 5/3/2007 20:45 Mumbai ›Bombayœ
EK012 5/3/2007 20:45 London Gatwick
EK517 5/3/2007 21:05 Bangalore
EK904 5/3/2007 21:15 Amman
EK840 5/3/2007 21:30 Bahrain
EK912 5/3/2007 21:40 Damaskus

Bank 4

EK726 5/3/2007 22:55 Dar es Salaam
EK720 5/3/2007 23:15 Nairobi
EK134 5/3/2007 23:15 Moscow ›Domodedovoœ
EK099 5/3/2007 23:20 Milan Malpensa
EK106 5/3/2007 23:20 Athens Hellinikon
EK046 5/3/2007 23:30 Frankfurt Rhein/Main Airport
EK050 5/3/2007 23:35 Muenchen
EK128 5/3/2007 23:35 Vienna
EK603 5/3/2007 23:35 Karachi
EK088 5/3/2007 23:40 Zurich
EK818 5/3/2007 23:40 Riyadh King Khaled Intl
EK333 5/3/2007 23:45 Manila
EK521 5/3/2007 23:50 Trivandrum
EK206 5/3/2007 23:55 New York JFK
EK056 5/3/2007 23:55 Duesseldorf
EK074 5/3/2007 23:59 Paris Charles de Gaulle
EK018 5/3/2007 0:10 Manchester
EK040 5/3/2007 0:15 Birmingham
EK762 5/3/2007 0:15 Johannesburg
EK804 5/3/2007 0:15 Jeddah King Abdulaziz Intl
EK924 5/3/2007 0:25 Cairo
EK016 5/3/2007 0:25 London Gatwick
EK026 5/3/2007 0:25 Glasgow Intl
EK002 5/3/2007 0:30 London Heathrow
EK585 5/3/2007 0:30 Dhaka
EK549 5/3/2007 0:30 Kolkata
EK724 5/3/2007 0:35 Entebbe
EK108 5/3/2007 0:40 Malta
EK734 5/3/2007 0:45 Khartoum
EK747 5/3/2007 1:00 Tripoli
EK9970 5/3/2007 1:05 Frankfurt Rhein/Main Airport
EK122 5/3/2007 1:15 Istanbul Ataturk
EK096 5/3/2007 1:15 Nizza ›Cote d Azurœ
EK954 5/3/2007 1:15 Beirut
EK846 5/3/2007 1:15 Doha
EK860 5/3/2007 1:25 Kuwait
EK822 5/3/2007 1:25 Dammam
EK752 5/3/2007 1:30 Casablanca Mohamed
EK865 5/3/2007 1:35 Muscat
 

EK030 5/3/2007 3:25 London Heathrow
EK784 5/3/2007 3:25 Lagos
EK352 5/3/2007 3:45 Singapore


So what is a typical day for EK and its DXB hub?

The total number of movements for EK at DXB is shown in this chart:

By Midnight the late evening arrivals are coming in large numbers from Europe, Africa and the Gulf region. Many of these passengers will be on their way to teh Far East in the 3am - 4am departure bank after a quick run around duty free.

From 2am the focus moves to the Far East departures until about 4am.

After 4am the overnight long haul flights start to arrive from Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Gulf and South Asia. After a two hour layover these passengers will continue onto Europe, Africa, Australia and the Gulf region in the 7am departure wave.

The 7am departure wave serves the full range of EK's European destinations. The flights to Europe will return around midnight in the 11pm wave.

At 10am it gets pretty quiet. There are some inbound regional flights that connect to the secondary 2pm European departure bank which manages the European flights that get twice daily service such as some of teh German flights. These flights will return around 4am or 5am the following day having flown back overnight to DXB.

By 4pm the airport is at its quietest for Emirates. There are some regional flights which fit in between the main flight waves.

From 8pm there are a number of regional and mid range arrivals, feeding into a small 10pm departure bank that heads to the Gulf and to South Asia.

Then from 11pm the large number of midnight arrivals come in from Europe and another day starts.

For Emirates the peak of the day is from 5am to 10am. The other rush hour being from 11pm to 4am.  It really is an airport for night owls.

This pattern is not without problems. It can mean that there are periods of great congestion when the airport is very busy. While at other times relatively little is happening. This is in part why there is room for a regional low cost short haul start up such as Jazeera. However there must be a lack of landing slots and space early morning and late night

As EK acquires new planes and adds new routes it is likely that the future will simply see more traffic centred on exactly the same arrival and departure banks as in the current model.

Geography

To understand the Emirates model it is also useful to look at the operational patterns for flights around the EK network.

Europe EK001 - 200

These are all the flight to Europe, some do not operate daily, sorted by flight number. It also shows their departure time and return time to DXB.

001 LHR 0745 0030
003 LHR 1430 0645
005 LHR 1630 0845
007 LHR 0310 1925
009 LGW 1445 0700
011 LGW 020  2045
015 LGW 0820 0025
017 MAN 0755 0010
019 MAN 1435 0640
025 GLA 0750 0025
029 LHR 0950 0325
037 BHX 1510 0725
039 BHX 0805 0015
045 FRA 0840 2330
047 FRA 1430 0525
049 MUC 0835 2335
051 MUC 1630 0630
055 DUS 0850 2355
057 DUS 1455 0605
073 CDG 0800 2359
075 CDG 1500 0640
085 ZRH 1620 0620
087 ZRH 0845 2340
093 MXP FCO 0750 2350
095 FCO NCE 0730 0115
097 FCO MXP 0750 0010
098 MXP 0820 0010
105 ATH 0935 2320
107 LCA MLA 0815 0040
121 IST 1450 0115
127 VIE 0910 2335
133 DME 0930 2315

Europe was where Emirates started and is at the heart of EK's operations. Flights leave in two operational patterns with the main departures in the morning arriving back around midnight feeding into the early morning eastbound departures. A second wave of European flights leaves in the early afternoon and returns overnight to DXB arriving around 6am.

EK 201 - 300 North America

201 JFK 0830 2035
203 JFK 0200 0750
205 HAM JFK 0855 2355

The US flights fit seamlessly into the operational structure of the airline departing and arriving within existing banks of flights.

EK 301-400 Asia

302 PVG 0325 0510
306 PEK 0300 0450
314 NGO 0245 0610
316 KIX 0250 0605
322 ICN 0300 0535
332 MNL 0320 2345
334 MNL 1030 0520
342 KUL 0910 0500
344 CGK SIN 0910 0525
346 KUL CGK 0315 0525
348 SIN CGK 0320 0545
352 SIN KUL 0920 0345
372 BKK HKG 0925 2345
380 HKG 0940 1245
384 BKK HKG 0315 0500
386 BKK HKG 0810 0625

Asia traffic mainly leaves DXB in the early morning arriving back some 24 hours later to feed into the morning European departures.

EK 401-500 Australia and NZ

404 SIN MEL 0245 0545
406 MEL AKL 1010 0540
412 SYD CHC 1010 0530
418 SYD AKL 0905 0555
420 PER 0235 0545
424 PER 0935 1315
432 BNE AKL 0840 0615

Most Australia bound flights leave at the end of the morning bank and are gone for almost two full days (the crews are gone for nearer six days or more). There are either quite long ground times in Australia or turnaround flights to New Zealand. Inbound traffic feeds into the main morning departure bank at Dubai.

EK 501-600 South Asia - India

500 BOM 2230 0600
502 BOM 1330 2045
504 BOM 0400 1130
510 DEL 0440 1250
512 DEL 2230 0630
516 BLR 1205 2105
518 BLR 2150 0650
520 TRV 1440 2350
522 TRV 2155 0705
524 HYD 2200 0640
526 HYD 0345 1240
530 COK 0340 1300
542 MAA 2100 0620
544 MAA 0300 1230
546 CCU 0150 1255
548 CCU 2215 0930
550 CMB 0240 1300
552 CMB MLE 0225 1450
556 MLE CMB 0250 1530
558 MLE CMB 0310 0540
582 DAC 0145 1300
584 DAC 1315 0030

A shorter flight time allows Emirates more flexibility in scheduling flights to India and Pakistan. Flights depart early morning or in the small 10pm bank with inbound traffic timed to feed to the 7am European flights or to the 3am Asia flights. In some cases the schedule is split so that 3 or 4 days a week the connection is to the European bank and the other days to the earlier Asian flights.

EK 601-700 Pakistan.

600 KHI 0800 1315
602 KHI 1815 2335
604 KHI 0130 0645
606 KHI 1000 1515
612 ISB 0300 1105
614 ISB 2200 0555
622 LHE 2205 0550
624 LHE 0340 1135
636 PEW 0305 1105

EK 701 - 800 Africa

701 MRU 0235 0550
705 SEZ 0230 1245
707 SEZ 1035 0545
717 NBO DAR 1430 0640
719 NBO 1005 2315
721 NBO EBB 1505 0640
723 ADD EBB 0825 0035
725 DAR 1000 2255
733 KRT 1500 004
747 TIP 0900 0100
751 CMN 0750 0130
761 JNB 0350 0015
763 JNB 1015 0515
783 LOS 0950 0325
787 ACC ABJ 0740 0605

The Africa flights follow a similar schedule to the European network; flights leave in the morning and early afternoon departure banks and feed into the DXB hub at midnight and in the early morning.

EK 801 - 1000 Gulf region

803 JED 1645 0015
817 RUH 1840 2340
821 DMM 2200 0125
825 DMM 1615 2010
837 BAH 0830 1200
839 BAH 1800 2130
841 DOH 0825 1145
843 DOH 1415 1700
845 DOH 2215 0115
847 DOH 0230 0545
853 KWI 0150 0625
855 KWI 0745 1210
857 KWI 1610 2040
859 KWI 2050 0125
862 MCT 0825 1145
864 MCT 2245 0135
901 AMM 0820 1600
903 AMM 1400 211
911 DAM 0715 1450
911 DAM 1400 2140
923 CAI 1550 0025
927 CAI 0850 1725
931 ALY 0910 1835
953 BEV 1700 0115
957 BEV 0735 1545
961 SAH 0710 1345
971 THR 0755 1320
975 THR 0115 0640
977 THR 1815 2350

EK has enough airplanes and flexibility to schedule regional flights as it wishes - although most either depart or arrive in established arrival and departure banks to ensure optimal fee

In conclusion

What does this all mean. That Emirates network is robust and tested. Although there are some restrictions in organising its operation such as the geographical location of its destinations and the ensuing stage length of its flights. In summer months it is also likely that there are weight restrictions on very long haul departures during the heat of the day.

The existing operational model features established arrival and departure banks that help to ensure optimal and efficient connections for passengers.

The opening on the new terminal at the end of 2007 will greatly help the flow of passengers at peak times and the availability of air bridges.

The emirates operational model is well tested and developed. No matter how many A380s and other aircraft the airline will add to its fleet, it is highly likely that these aircraft and their passengers will flow through the network according to the existing and established operational model.