Emirates passenger numbers will recover in 6 months, but not at pre-COVID-19 levels: Sheikh Ahmed

Gulf News

Emirates Airline & Group Chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum expects passenger traffic to recover in the next six months, but added that he doesn't see it going back to pre-pandemic levels.  Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/2RYc5KW  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #Dubai #Emirates

Transcript

00:00We have to think that it's been a very tough year for all the airlines, you know, and when we look

00:06at all the airlines of our size and how difficult for them, being really a lockdown, I would say,

00:17around the world, not flying last year for a number of months, all that being tough. But I

00:26think we opened up and we see the more markets open, so we take it. If the markets open,

00:35countries are opening up, we will see a fast rebound in terms of traffic to those markets.

00:44So I think as the markets open, you will see that traffic is good.

00:48We have to remain optimistic and this is what I've been saying. If markets open,

00:55traffic will be coming. We will see this in the next six months. Maybe we will not reach the

01:02pre-pandemic number till the next six months. That would need obviously a much longer

01:11period. And also, this is also, it doesn't depend on the airline and what the airline is doing.

01:17We are always there, we can move fast and we can start with the previous number that we used to

01:29fly in terms of aircraft and things like that. But also that it takes a big, I would say, government.

01:40You work with governments, it's completely different now. You know, health authorities,

01:46airport capacity, slots, time, all of that is an obstacle when the airline comes. It's not like

01:54just I want to go there and I can't do it. You know, we are reassessing our plan in terms of

02:03lead requirement, what should be really pushed back, because we have to deal with a market that

02:10really shifting back and forth. You know, we go, we see the market, we go two steps

02:16front and then one step behind or two and three, you know, so it's not really a very accurate

02:23number I don't want to give at this time. It's always dependent on the government and how they

02:29are dealing with that situation. So we cannot say fix a date that will be applied around the world.

02:37You see markets are opening, closing, reopening with restriction, with less restriction.

02:44We're always for, I think, we see that more vaccine around the world, easy, easing on travel

02:53restriction. You know, this kind of thing, you know, we have to think about it that way. And

03:00that's how the world will move. I hope that the market will open in the next six months from now

03:07the summer traffic is really coming up fairly soon. I can sense that people want to travel,

03:16want to people really, because especially the one who haven't been out of their location for the

03:23last year and a half. So they want to do, they want to travel. On flight Dubai and working

03:31together, we've been working together before COVID-19. And now we are also trying to

03:40mesh our operation together to make the best of it. We have to think it's one on

03:46for flight Dubai. The focus now on doing things in the right way and to work together

03:53much closer than ever before.

04:01Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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