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At the very least, I think it’s safe to assume that Emirates will soon be announcing service to new Canadian destinations…
More services between Canada and the UAE
Canada and the United Arab Emirates do not have an open skies agreement, which allows airlines to operate unlimited flights between participating countries. Instead, the two countries have bilateral air service agreements and the number of frequencies must be explicitly negotiated.
Emirates has been hoping to expand in Canada, but has been held back by a lack of additional frequencies. Fortunately, this situation will soon change.
it has been Announce Today, Canada and the United Arab Emirates expanded their air services agreement, allowing their respective countries’ airlines to expand their flights. The expanded agreement will allow airlines from each country to operate 21 weekly flights, a 50 per cent increase from the current weekly limit of 14 flights.
Background information on current air service between Canada and the United Arab Emirates:
- Air Canada flies 7 times per week between Toronto (YYZ) and Dubai (DXB)
- Emirates flies 5 times weekly between Dubai (DXB) and Toronto (YYZ)
- Etihad Airways flies 6 times weekly between Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Toronto (YYZ)
As you can see, Air Canada is only using half of the slots allowed in Canada, while Emirates and Etihad have been using most of the slots allowed in the UAE (I’m not sure why they don’t use all 14 slots ).
As a wild card, WestJet has been granted access to a new Calgary service in Dubai, although the launch of the service has yet to be officially announced.
What kind of new routes can we see?
What kind of new routes can we see between Canada and the United Arab Emirates?First, remember Air Canada’s Aeroplan program has partnerships with both emirates airlines and Etihad Airways, the commercial agreement with Emirates is definitely stronger. I suspect the stronger connection between Air Canada and Emirates is part of the reason we’re seeing an expansion of air service agreements.
The question is, what new routes can we see? Several things are at play, so here are some ideas:
- I think it goes without saying that Montreal (YUL) and Vancouver (YVR) are the next logical destinations for the UAE
- In any case, Air Canada hadn’t used up its Emirates slots before, so in theory, the airline didn’t need this extension to add more flights; however, given Air Canada’s partnership with Emirates Recently launched, the timing makes sense
- On the Emirates side, the extra weekly slots would theoretically be split between Emirates and Etihad; the question is whether Etihad would be interested in these slots, as the airline is more growth-wise than in the past keep
There are countless ways this could be accomplished, but presumably all of these scenarios involve service from Dubai to Montreal and/or Vancouver. Could we see Air Canada adding flights to these cities? Could Emirates add daily service to one of the cities (which is doable)? Does Etihad want more slots in Canada, meaning Emirates won’t be able to launch daily service to another market?
I’m very curious to see how that turns out, as I’m sure we’ll see at least one new Emirates route. My money would be on the Dubai to Montreal service, although I can see it being Vancouver as well.
the bottom line
Canada and the United Arab Emirates expanded their air service agreement, so we can now see 21 weekly flights between the two countries for airlines from each country.
Emirates is adding seven flights a week, so hopefully we’ll see Emirates launch service to Montreal or Vancouver. I could also see Air Canada expanding from one of those cities to Dubai, given the airline’s new alliance with Emirates.
What new routes do you think we will see between Canada and the UAE?
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