Addendum
Emirate pushing for “Open Skies” with China
December 1st 2017
At the Dubai Air Show last month, the CEO of the emirate’s colossal airport group, Paul Griffith, made it clear that attracting a greater share of Asia’s passenger market, particularly travelers from China and Southeast Asia, was a top priority for the group. Read More »
Speaking only days after Qatar Airways announced it intended to complete the purchase of 9.61% of Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways, the chief executive of the Dubai Airports Company, which operates Dubai International and Dubai World Central Airports, said Dubai was in pursuit of “Open Skies” with China.
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Griffiths said it was hoped China could be persuaded that opening its domestic market to more international airlines would benefit its economy. Australia is the only country with an Open Skies agreement with the Mainland.
Dubai Airports expected to reach its target of almost 90 million passengers for 2017, Griffiths said, and added a significant portion of its long-term growth would be passenger business from China and Southeast Asia.
“If you look to 2024, there’s a projected increase of 1.3 billion passenger journeys from Southeast Asia and China. We are very excited about this possibility because Dubai is at the heart of that. We are well able to service that market because we are so well positioned geographically for it,” he said.
Last year, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) introduced a visa-on-arrival policy for Chinese tourists, Griffith said, but an Open Skies agreement with China was the key to unlocking the potential of that market.
“If China was to declare Open Skies [with us] we’d be in much better shape. It means that one country declares to another that there is no restriction on the amount of flying that can be done by the airlines from both countries. This strategy produces the best and most competitive product for the customer, which is the best pricing.
“It makes everything much easier and usually results in a huge uplift in the amount of trade, tourism and commercial activity between the two countries.”
The UAE and Chinese governments have held talks on Open Skies but they had yet to bear fruit, he said.
“Some countries are faster than others to embrace it. Australia is a good example. It does not matter which airline people fly as long as they arrive in Australia.
“They wrote bilaterals that have had an explosive effect on the Australian economy. Other countries are lagging behind. China has many years of experience in accommodating its huge amount of domestic travel, but they have not got going with the international scene until now.”
