The Dubai-London Heathrow non-stop route for Emirates, the airline company based in the United Arab Emirates, generated revenue of almost $800m in 2018, gaining itself one of the highest rankings in a new list of the biggest money-making routes in the world.
Air travel intelligence company OAG, which offers reliable digital information, says that the national carrier’s route for the UAE from Dubai to Heathrow came in third place in the list of “Top 10 highest revenue routes by airline” from April 2018 to March 2019. Emirates has six Airbus A380s which fly this route every day and the firm has made an average of as much as $24,926 every hour within that 12-month time period, the total coming to no less than $769,202m. The route saw over two and a half million passengers make the trip in 2018, though this was actually a fall of 16.6% in comparison to the previous year, according to OAG.
The air travel intelligence provider admitted that 2017 was actually even more profitable for the Heathrow to Dubai route for the UAE national carrier, generating over $33m with an extra 435 hours of scheduled flight time. In 2018, the revenue generated per hour came in at 3% less than was the case the year before, the responsibility for which could lie with the increased operating costs of the airline together with foreign exchange rates and the inflation of jet fuel prices.
Saj Ahmad, an analyst for StrategicAero Research, which is based in London, says that it is no surprise that the route is making so much money given Dubai’s strategic location. Ahmad points out that Emirates is able to connect the world via its hub and that people in the UK, and especially those in and around the capital city, tend to go for Dubai and Emirates rather than any competitors because of their new aeroplanes, world-class service and excellent worldwide one-stop connections in Dubai. The UAE national carrier flew to more than 140 destinations and recorded a 5.8% increase in overall passenger revenue last year to more than Dh78bn and carried 58.6 million passengers.
The UAE national carrier’s flights in and out of Europe, including London’s Heathrow Airport, constituted 29.4% of its entire revenue last year, an increase of 6% on 2017. Airbus A380 flies the route between Heathrow and Dubai International, having become an all A380 service six years ago back in 2013. The result is that Emirates is now the leading operator of A380s in the world, with its fleet comprised of as many as 110 super jumbo jets. Emirates’ own annual report reveals that the company purchased six Boeing 777s and seven A380s last year, and has plans for additional expansion with another six of the latter next year.
Anyone travelling to any country with Emirates or any other airline needs to purchase travel insurance before doing so. Travel insurance protects travellers against the financial risks posed by cancelled flights, theft of luggage or personal items, or illness in a foreign country.
