Emirates leads as Gulf airlines fly past Chinese carriers on US routes

Gulf carriers have been focusing on long-haul flights which have put them in good stead compared to the global rivals and a major contributor to their growth.

In their pursuit of growth in terms of long-haul flights to the US, the Gulf carriers have achieved new heights.

According to Australian-headquartered think-tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), three Gulf carriers – Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways – have attracted traffic from their Chinese counterparts on the long-haul US routes and are now dominating the players between the two regions.

“The Gulf carriers along with Chinese carriers are bringing an influx of capacity to US, opening markets that previously did not exist or were difficult to conveniently reach. Early last decade the Chinese carriers were larger in the US than the Gulf carriers were, but this trend has now reversed with the Gulf carriers far greater in size than the Chinese ones,” Capa said in a note.

Emirates is the largest in the US, by size and destinations (nine) followed by Qatar's seven destinations. Etihad's December-2014 launch to Dallas/Ft Worth will give it its sixth destination, Capa said.

The growth of Chinese carriers is relatively straightforward as they bring passengers mainly from China but also elsewhere in Asia. The traffic profile of Gulf carriers however is not as single focused, but like the Chinese carriers they serve growing economies.

Chinese carriers largely started their presence in the US west coast, where flights are shorter than to the east coast and Chinese communities larger. With time they have shifted eastwards: Air China and Hainan Airlines grew in the central US in 2013 (Houston and Chicago respectively) before growing in the east coast in 2014 (Washington Dulles and Boston respectively).

While Gulf carriers have broadly but not as closely followed this pattern as the Gulf carriers are dependent on transfer traffic beyond their hubs to the Middle East, Africa and Asia, it said.

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