Emirates on track to pre-crisis level

MANILA, Philippines — Emirates expects to maintain its recovery pace for the rest of the year and extend it further to 2023 on the back of the spike in travel demand and an expanded fleet operating in Manila.

Emirates country manager for the Philippines Saeed Abdulla Miran said the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates climbed to at least 93 percent of its pre-pandemic level between June and September in a proof that the airline giant is poised for rebound.

During the period, Miran said nine in every 10 seats were occupied by passengers.

“We are optimistic given out great performance in recent months. From June 1 to Sept. 12 alone, (our) passenger traffic in and out of the Philippines has recovered to about 93 percent of the pre-pandemic figures, with a seat factor at about 90 percent,” he said.

Miran said Emirates hopes that developments favor its case, especially as its pushes to expand its operations in the Philippines, particularly in Manila.

“With the economy’s steady recovery, we are confident we will be able to sustain the momentum throughout the rest of the year and even 2023,” he added.

Emirates has asked the Philippine government for additional frequencies to scale up its flights in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). It currently operates 18 flights a week to NAIA and daily flights to the Clark International Airport via Cebu.

“We are very interested in adding capacity to the Philippines. It’s just the will of the government to give us extra frequencies, especially to the Manila airport,” Miran said.

The Philippine unit of the UAE carrier saw an increase in ticket bookings for Dubai from Manila as soon as the government lifted border restrictions and resumed air travel. Also, flight activities in its Clark operations are beginning to pick up with the country seen staying under Alert Level 1 for good.

Emirates has a total of 25 flights from Manila, Cebu and Clark to Dubai.

Upon landing at the Dubai International Airport, viewed as the busiest in the world, travelers can head out to destinations in Europe, Middle East and the Americas.