Emirates to offer passengers incentives to fly through Middle East as first class sits half empty

Tim Clark, the longtime president of Dubai-based mega airline Emirates, says the carrier will start offering incentives to lure back travelers who have been scared away by the ongoing security situation in the Middle East.

Recently, Iran launched salvo upon salvo of ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones towards the United Arab Emirates, striking Dubai International Airport (DXB) on at least three occasions. A fragile ceasefire has seen the end of attacks on the UAE, although Kuwait International Airport was badly damaged in an Iranian attack last week.

Clark, remains confident that Emirates can “bounce back” from the regional unrest, but in the near term, the airline still has a massive challenge on its hands.

Emirates’ flagship First Class cabins remain half as full as they were before the US and Israel launched their joint military campaign against Iran on February 28, as passengers book alternative flights that avoid the Middle East and rearrange vacations from Dubai to Europe, Asia, and beyond.

On Tuesday,  Clark told a Reuters journalist at an aviation event in Berlin, Germany, that the airline would start to offer “all sorts of incentives” to win back passengers.

The only incentive that Clark won’t commit to, however, is discounting airfares, explaining that the surging cost of jet fuel has affected Emirates just as much as any other airline, despite the fact that the airline had ‘hedged’ a proportion of its fuel requirements all the way through to 2029.

One idea that Clark is looking at is offering substantial reassurances to passengers that, should their travel plans be disrupted due to a deterioration in the security situation, Emirates will go out of its way to look after them, rebooking passengers on alternative flights operated by rival airlines if necessary.

Rather than cutting flights, Emirates has focused on rebuilding its schedule, even if that means planes are operating with lots of empty seats.

The same strategy is being pursued by Etihad Airways in neighboring Abu Dhabi, with the airline planning to exceed its pre-conflict capacity by early next week. Etihad’s chief executive, Antonoaldo Neves, has, however, suggested that the airline could start discounting airfares to lure back passengers.