Emirates president Sir Tim Clark says he could sell some premium seats five times over, but that aircraft delivery delays and capacity limits mean it has missed out on more than USD10 billion in revenues.
He told Arabian Gulf Business Insight (AGBI) that the airline would have had 120 777-9s in its fleet by now had the program remained on schedule and not been delayed by a series of manufacturing problems. It has a backlog of 315 planes from Boeing and 57 from Airbus.
EK is missing out on additional revenues. Premium cabins on long haul routes such as Sydney, London Heathrow and New York are frequently sold out, sometimes with multiple passengers competing for a single seat, AGBI reports.
Clark says for every premium seat sold to Sydney there’s another on a waiting list, while Heathrow last year had a waiting list that was five-deep in Aug. “We know that today we are leaving business on the table.”
