New dawn as Emirates retires Airbus 330, 340 family

Emirates recently completed the switch to Airbus 380 and Boeing 777 types to usher in a new dawn in the global sky travel business.
WOLE OYEBADE, who was in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), writes on the feat that puts the airline ahead of the pack.

Safety and Emergency Procedure Instructor at Emirates Airlines, Walid Mansy, briskly walked the gallery conducting his guests round the Simulator area. Done with the introduction of first two stationary aircraft-prototypes, he turned to the guests with a smile, arm stretched at the last simulator and announced, “that is the A330/340 simulator, but we no longer use such aircraft at the Emirates.”

Not quiet a few of the visiting journalists were surprised at the declaration and they didn’t hide it. Walid got the message too and quickly offered: “From this month, we only operate triple sevens and 380s. Before, we used to have A330 and 340, but we don’t use them anymore,” he said with air of pride.

The perplexity was not limited to the journalists from Nigeria; it actually reverberated around the world of aviation. Just imagine; 251 brand new wide-body A380 and 777 aircraft with the latest state-of-the-art gadgets assembled all as one airline! “That is what Emirates now offers; the youngest fleet in the world,” Walid said.

Divisional Vice President, Customer Experience IFE and Connectivity at Emirates, Patrick Brannelly, had last month announced that the airline would be phasing out its remaining A330-200s and A340-300s.

The planes being retired in 2016 are 12 A330-300s, four A340-300s, one A340-500, six Boeing 777-200ERs, two Boeing 777-300s and one Boeing 777-300ER.

Era of A380 and Boeing triple-seven machine
In matters of modernity, comfort and efficiency, Airbus 380 and Boeing 777 are front runners. A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner designed for modern airports with upgraded facilities. It is the world’s largest passenger airliner with amazing fuel-efficiency designed by the European Union manufacturer to challenge Boeing’s monopoly in the large-aircraft market.

The aircraft provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in an all-economy class configuration. As of October 2016, Airbus had received 319 firm orders and delivered 198 aircraft; Emirates is the biggest A380 customer with 142 ordered of which 83 have been delivered.

Boeing 777, which Airbus currently rivals, indeed ranks as one of Boeing’s best-selling models. Airlines around the world have acquired the type as a comparatively fuel-efficient alternative to other wide-body jets and have increasingly deployed the aircraft on long-haul transoceanic routes.

The competition between Airbus and Boeing notwithstanding, both makes a good couple in a marriage consummated by Emirates airlines jostling for 100 per cent efficiency.

“Emirates is removing some of the older Airbus A330 and A340 jets, both of which are very fuel-inefficient,” said Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at Strategic Aero Research.

Fuel is the largest component of an airline’s cost. For Emirates, fuel accounted for about 28 per cent of its operating cost, according to its latest financial results. “The airline is removing not just old jets. It reduces costs by not having to support an ageing fleet and can redeploy pilots and crew on newer jets in its fleet,” Ahmad said.

It didn’t come cheap
The achievement, 251 aircraft-fleet today, didn’t happen overnight. Way back in November 2001, in the heat of one of the worst crises in the global aviation industry, Emirates took the world by surprise announcing that it has placed a $15billion order for new set of aircraft.

As if to prove skeptics wrong, the airline in 2005, announced the largest order ever for the Boeing 777 family of aircraft – 42 in all – in a deal worth DH35.7 billion ($9.7 billion).

Not done, at the Dubai Airshow in November 2007, Emirates announced a historic civil aviation aircraft order when it signed contracts for 120 Airbus A350s, 11 A380s, and 12 Boeing 777-300ERs, worth an estimated $34.9 billion in list prices.

The agreement with Airbus comprises firm orders for 50 A350-900s and 20 A350-1000s, plus 50 options for the A350-900s, with the plan to have the first A350 delivered to Emirates in 2015.

During 2010, in line with the airline’s strategic growth plan, Emirates significantly increased its order for new aircraft. In June at the Berlin Airshow, Emirates announced an order for an additional 32 Airbus A380s and in July at the Farnborough Airshow, 30 more Boeing 777-300ERs were ordered. The combined value of these orders is $13.4 billion.

A year after, at the Dubai Airshow, Emirates placed the single largest aircraft order in dollar value in Boeing’s history when it requested an additional 50 777-300ERs, worth approximately $18 billion. The order also included 20 777-300 ER options valued at $8 billion, for a total of 70 aircraft valued at $26 billion.

Today, Emirates order-book stands at more than 280 aircraft, with a total value of approximately $138 billion as of November 2014. In combination with what is already one of the youngest and one of the most modern fleets in worldwide commercial aviation, this commitment to the future reflects its ultimate goal to develop Dubai into a comprehensive, global, long-haul aviation hub.

Built for comfort
Mansy said that the feat was part of the goal at Emirate, to keep the fleet young and maximise the comfort available to its passengers.
According to him, “What happen is after sometime, we replace the old one. And when we replace, we always target the new ones. Both 777s and the 380s are the most advanced aircraft that are flying now and can offer a lot of facilities to the passengers, fuel economy cost, long destinations and others are considered. We want aircraft that can go everywhere in comfort. The average years of our fleet are four to six years.”

And indeed, depending on the ticket affordable by a passenger – First Class, Business or Economy – the aircraft types are programmed for maximum comfort. From private suites to shower spas in First Class to flat-bed seats in Business Class and extra leg room in Economy, along with in-flight Wi-Fi throughout the aircraft, a journey on this aircraft is truly comfortable.

Beginning from 2003, Emirates started the delivery of the award winning Information Communication and Entertainment (ICE) system on board. The system affords a passenger between 24 to 42 inches personal TV screen to watch latest movie and music collections, podcasts and audio-books as well as live television programme.

Today, phone and Wi-Fi services that used to be a no-no, are now possible some 35,000-plus above sea-level. It is indeed a bedroom experience on a six or 10 hours flight.

With 251 aircraft on its fleet, Emirate currently delivers 420 flights to 153 destinations a day.  Emirates’ mainline passenger fleet constitutes at least 85 A380-800s, 10 B777-200(LR)s, 10 B777-300s and 124 B777-300(ERs).

Training Specialists at Emirates Aviation College (EAC), Dubai, Dennis Kelly, noted that the services would not have been possible without huge investment in training programme that prepare crewmember, ab initio and recurrent, for the onboard hospitality.

Conducting the team of visiting Nigerian journalists round the college, Kelly informed that the EAC welcomes no fewer than 5000 new cabin crew members and 16,000 recurrent for re-skilling every year (2015 figures). One of the special trainings on offer, besides safety and group medicals, is onboard sales of duty-free goods to Emirates customers.

While no less than 26 A330 and 340 were phased out – either leased or sold out – the airlines will have over 320 aircraft by 2018 and 400 aircraft in its fleet by 2020.

More than just acquiring a new fleet and outdoing its competitors, the mood of the likes of Walid, Kelly and a host of others at the college suggests a gulf airline that is indeed the programmed workhorse of a larger vision. A vision that is Dubai, to be the hub of global tourism, beginning from when passengers step on board the Emirates airplane anywhere in the world.