I think most of us EK drivers see this as nothing more than instead of flying the current 95 hours a month that we fly.... this will only increase our already unsustainable rosters to over 100 a month. We all wonder where on earth they'll get the qualified pilots to fly these. Some say these are replacements aircraft.... bullocks!! EK has no intention of staying status quo. The mean to take over the world. The CEO has said the only reason he won't buy more 380's is the limited space at the Dubai airport.
And if you've ever flown into Dubai at the midnight hour with all the Ek flights coming in from Europe, India, and South Africa.... hope you're not too anxious to land because you're in for a hold each and every night for at least 20 minutes followed by 20 more mins of vectoring... each and every night. So while the roster says we fly 95 per month originally, it's more like 100 by the end of the month with all this holding done.... only to see next months roster at yet another 95 hours. Ek could make at least twice the profit if they had a somewhat reasonable arrival structure, so they wouldn't burn all the excess fuel each night, each airplane, every single night of the year.
K