Emirates hopeful of a travel revival as more markets re-open
Emirates expects a pick-up in summer travel demand as more markets re-open their borders over the next six months, the airline's chairman and chief executive, said on Monday.
"We have to remain optimistic... if markets open, traffic will be coming, we will see this in the next six months, maybe we will not reach the pre-pandemic numbers, that will be a much longer period," Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed told reporters at the Arabian Travel Market.
The airline is also considering swapping some of its wide-body Boeing 777X jets on order with the smaller 787 Dreamliners amid delays in the new aircraft's debut. "It's a possibility," Sheikh Ahmed said. "The 777X programme was really delayed, with our planning team we are in talks with Boeing."
The airline's chairman is also hopeful that the UAE will be added to the UK's green list "very soon," he said. "It is unfair, we look at the number of British people living in the UAE, more than 150,000 people here, who want to go back home to their country and see their loved ones. It is a must," the chairman said. "The two governments... are talking about it and sharing information."
