Emirates, Qatar and Etihad Jack up flights to Manchester City

Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways are doing exactly the opposite of what British Airways did! While BA pulled its operations out of Manchester, all three Arabian giants are jacking up their operations in Manchester.

Emirates is leading the pack with the announcement of the third daily flight to Manchester, while both Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways have daily double flights to the city.

Super success of Emirates’ superjumbo services from Manchester seems to have woken up the giants from their slumber.

“Manchester is a real success story. To be adding a third flight just months after introducing our 517-seat A380 superjumbo to the route reflects surging demand for our flights in and out of the north west of England," Salem Obaidalla, Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation was quoted as stating in the Emirates’ press release.

However, the story seems to be completely different when seen from British Airways perspective. BA scrapped its long-haul flights from Manchester airport in 2008 in favour of London Heathrow. And even as carriers like Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines and Singapore Airlines operate long-haul services from Manchester; BA says it has no plans of revising the model.

Emirates surely do not agree with BA as it builds up its fleet of 90 A380s, and seeks to direct price-conscious ticket buyers through Dubai. Ticket on cheap flights is what people gain by this move of the airline. The increased services really escalate the chances of passengers, who need to travel, of grabbing tickets on cheap flights.

Qatar and Etihad aren’t too behind as Qatar has orders for more than 170 jetliners and Etihad has orders for 100.

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