Emirates musings about Y+ and Y-

[PineappleSkip]

Interesting article with thoughts from Emirates CEO Tim Clark

Emirates Considers Adding Budget Economy Section to Lure Frugal Flyers

Not sure how much, if any, is new news -- it looks like musings designed to elicit market feedback -- but you get the impression that EK have realised that having a lot of unsaleable A380s and a single Y product isn't going to be sustainable in the long term.

'One option, Clark said, is to slice economy class into three or four sections, all with different amenities and prices.' Interesting concept; Y+, Y, Y- and Y--. I'd prefer a Y++ but not expecting anything soon.

My hopeful award goes to this comment 'The trick is to get the seat design right. You get the ergonomics right, and make it slightly smaller and nobody notices the difference.' apropos a suggestion of 11 seats per row in Y+. You jam another seat per row in and I reckon people will notice the difference.

My concept for a Y-- product, with the passengers adding value to the product. Every time I go downstairs in an EK A380 I'm reminded of this scene...

Cheers skip

 

[samh004]

I find two things odd, first that he suggests Lufthansa and not long-term partner Qantas when talking about a carrier with a budget airline, and second that he doesn't see incentive to start a new discount airline – instead cheapening the premium EK brand.

While I realise that Flydubai is not owned by Emirates, I think brining them together to operate one as the budget arm for the other would make more sense.

 

[moa999]

Possibly the audience.
Suspect not many Euros aware of Jetstar or FlyDubai, whereas Eurowings more known.

I'm not surprised. EK has a number of routes to the subcontinent which are often very price sensitive and high Y versus J (indeed it often uses its older dense configuration 777s on these routes)

All about targeting the correct product for the market

 

[dajop]

I have often wondered if the A380 might actually lend itself to a dual branded operation. For example on the MEL-SIN where QF and JQ duplicate services (ie. more or less at the same time of the day), you could have the aircraft flown by QF, and downstairs the QF cabin with QF uniformed flight attendants and QF service and upstairs a JQ cabin with JQ flight attendants and JQ service. Could do the same with EK/Fly dubai. This way you can offer a Y- product without diluting the main brand. I guess logistically difficult, and limits fleet flexibility.

 

[Flying Fox]

I have often wondered if the A380 might actually lend itself to a dual branded operation. For example on the MEL-SIN where QF and JQ duplicate services (ie. more or less at the same time of the day), you could have the aircraft flown by QF, and downstairs the QF cabin with QF uniformed flight attendants and QF service and upstairs a JQ cabin with JQ flight attendants and JQ service. Could do the same with EK/Fly dubai. This way you can offer a Y- product without diluting the main brand. I guess logistically difficult, and limits fleet flexibility.

Interesting proposition. I have never thought of this. A variation on code sharing???

I wonder what EK Y- would look like?