Aiming for an airline career? Consider these quotes.
“By 2020, we will have more than 250 aircraft serving some 70 million passengers across six continents. It will make us the largest airline on the planet by international traffic.”—Emirates President Tim Clark
“The U.S. is a growing market for us….” —Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker
In April 2011, the secretary general of the Arab Air Carriers Organization, in a speech to the International Aviation Club, compared the U.S. airline industry to dinosaurs that will soon die because of their inability to adapt to their environment.
The message is certainly clear that the cash-flush Middle Eastern airlines are taking on the world. Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines are poised to double their capacity by 2020, according to a report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the same time, Emirates’ revenues are expected to dwarf those of United and Delta.
Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar placed $162 billion in aircraft orders within the first hours of the recent Dubai Airshow, for a whopping 368 airplanes. That order doubles the wide-body fleet size of those airlines. With existing orders on the books, the three airlines have committed to a total of just more than 800 airplanes. Many of the airplanes are made by Boeing. But, you can rest assured that the profit-motivated Middle Eastern carriers are looking to airline routes in the United States as gold mines in the sky, which could throw a huge monkey wrench into the economic workings of the domestic airline industry.
The issue for the U.S. airlines is a level playing field. Air Line Pilots Association President Lee Moak sees it this way: “If U.S. airlines are to die, it will be due to U.S. government policy and vision that is stuck in a domestic competitive mindset while we do business in a global economic environment. The current marketplace works against us. The tremendous extent to which the Export-Import Bank of the United States’ below-market financing helps only foreign airlines, and often heavily state supported, purchase wide-body aircraft and compete against our airlines.”
Moreover, the Obama administration planned to open a U.S. Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport. This airport is served by no U.S. carrier, so the facility would solely benefit Middle Eastern airlines and their passengers.
So, then, as the U.S. airline industry has convulsed periodically since September 11, 2001, with bankruptcies, economic financial meltdowns, and mergers, the advance of the foreign airlines in the global market—particularly those Middle Eastern carriers with seemingly limitless cash—can pose a challenge that may be extremely difficult to withstand.
On the other hand, there is a growing public sentiment that new competition, even if originating over there, is not all bad.
USA Today Travel writer Christopher Elliott says, “In numerous interviews I conducted with ordinary air travelers, a clear consensus emerges: The benefits of opening up the domestic market to foreign competition far outweigh any drawbacks. Being able to buy a transcontinental ticket on Cathay Pacific or Qatar Airways would force U.S. airlines to offer lower prices and upgrade their service, ending a shameful race to the bottom that’s defined domestic air travel in the last decade. U.S. airlines would no longer take us for granted.”
Will we see a Qatar airliner flying passengers from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Lambert-St. Louis? Maybe not. There are multiple international treaties prohibiting foreign carriers from flying point to point within another foreign country. As the global community expands, however, treaties may be rewritten. If so, we could see United or Delta flying point to point overseas as well.
What of those pilots longing to hook up with a legacy carrier? Back in the day, it was something like this: “I really wanna fly for United or Delta.” The new career crush might very well be Emirates—which, by the way, offers the following to its pilots:
- Starting first officer salary minimum of $7,935 monthly, tax free
- Profit sharing
- Education support allowance for up to three children aged 4 to 19
- 42 days of annual leave
- Free annual leave tickets (not standby) for employees and dependents
- Life, accident, medical, and dental insurance
- Loss of license insurance
- Personal chauffer service to and from the pilot’s residence
All it takes is 4,000 hours of total flight time; 2,500 hours in a multi-crew modern jet, and an ICAO ATPL. Any takers?
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Aiming for an airline career? Consider these quotes.
“By 2020, we will have more than 250 aircraft serving some 70 million passengers across six continents. It will make us the largest airline on the planet by international traffic.”—Emirates President Tim Clark
“The U.S. is a growing market for us….” —Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker
In April 2011, the secretary general of the Arab Air Carriers Organization, in a speech to the International Aviation Club, compared the U.S. airline industry to dinosaurs that will soon die because of their inability to adapt to their environment.
The message is certainly clear that the cash-flush Middle Eastern airlines are taking on the world. Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines are poised to double their capacity by 2020, according to a report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the same time, Emirates’ revenues are expected to dwarf those of United and Delta.
Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar placed $162 billion in aircraft orders within the first hours of the recent Dubai Airshow, for a whopping 368 airplanes. That order doubles the wide-body fleet size of those airlines. With existing orders on the books, the three airlines have committed to a total of just more than 800 airplanes. Many of the airplanes are made by Boeing. But, you can rest assured that the profit-motivated Middle Eastern carriers are looking to airline routes in the United States as gold mines in the sky, which could throw a huge monkey wrench into the economic workings of the domestic airline industry.
The issue for the U.S. airlines is a level playing field. Air Line Pilots Association President Lee Moak sees it this way: “If U.S. airlines are to die, it will be due to U.S. government policy and vision that is stuck in a domestic competitive mindset while we do business in a global economic environment. The current marketplace works against us. The tremendous extent to which the Export-Import Bank of the United States’ below-market financing helps only foreign airlines, and often heavily state supported, purchase wide-body aircraft and compete against our airlines.”
Moreover, the Obama administration planned to open a U.S. Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport. This airport is served by no U.S. carrier, so the facility would solely benefit Middle Eastern airlines and their passengers.
So, then, as the U.S. airline industry has convulsed periodically since September 11, 2001, with bankruptcies, economic financial meltdowns, and mergers, the advance of the foreign airlines in the global market—particularly those Middle Eastern carriers with seemingly limitless cash—can pose a challenge that may be extremely difficult to withstand.
On the other hand, there is a growing public sentiment that new competition, even if originating over there, is not all bad.
USA Today Travel writer Christopher Elliott says, “In numerous interviews I conducted with ordinary air travelers, a clear consensus emerges: The benefits of opening up the domestic market to foreign competition far outweigh any drawbacks. Being able to buy a transcontinental ticket on Cathay Pacific or Qatar Airways would force U.S. airlines to offer lower prices and upgrade their service, ending a shameful race to the bottom that’s defined domestic air travel in the last decade. U.S. airlines would no longer take us for granted.”
Will we see a Qatar airliner flying passengers from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Lambert-St. Louis? Maybe not. There are multiple international treaties prohibiting foreign carriers from flying point to point within another foreign country. As the global community expands, however, treaties may be rewritten. If so, we could see United or Delta flying point to point overseas as well.
What of those pilots longing to hook up with a legacy carrier? Back in the day, it was something like this: “I really wanna fly for United or Delta.” The new career crush might very well be Emirates—which, by the way, offers the following to its pilots:
- Starting first officer salary minimum of $7,935 monthly, tax free
- Profit sharing
- Education support allowance for up to three children aged 4 to 19
- 42 days of annual leave
- Free annual leave tickets (not standby) for employees and dependents
- Life, accident, medical, and dental insurance
- Loss of license insurance
- Personal chauffer service to and from the pilot’s residence
All it takes is 4,000 hours of total flight time; 2,500 hours in a multi-crew modern jet, and an ICAO ATPL. Any takers?
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