The post-pandemic airline world is about to bring another major surprise: Emirates and United Airlines, two of the world’s leading airlines, are about to announce in the coming weeks a codeshare agreement that could mark a turning point in West-East connectivity.
The story was first reported by Jon Ostrower in The Air Current, who highlights all the implications of such a union, not only in aviation but also geopolitical: The agreement surfaces after years of intense lobbying and claims of unfair advantage. United, along with American and Delta, carried out a crusade against the main airlines of the Middle East, including Emirates, for their oversize and global scale achieved in the last two decades, arguing that this was possible thanks to the support of their respective governments.
As the hours passed, United Airlines sent out an invitation to the media under the title «Come Fly With Us» for a conference by Scott Kirby, CEO of the US company, and Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates, on 14 September, which gradually cleared the airline’s prospects.
To stir public opinion, United and Emirates also had a suggestive exchange on their respective Twitter accounts:
Emirates currently operates 42 weekly flights from Dubai to United hubs in the US: Chicago-O’Hare (7x), Houston-IAD (7x), Los Angeles (7x), Newark (7x), San Francisco (7x) and Washington-Dulles (7x). This is complemented by 52 weekly flights to Boston (7x), Dallas-DFW (7x), New York-JFK (21x), Orlando (5x), Miami (5x) and Seattle (7x).
United Airlines operates 104 weekly flights from the continental United States to the Middle East and Asia, connecting Newark with Delhi (7x), Tokyo-Narita (7x) and Tel Aviv (14x); Washington-Dulles with Amman (3x) and Tel Aviv (3x); Houston with Tokyo-Narita (4x); Los Angeles with Tokyo-Narita (7x); Chicago with Delhi (7x), Tokyo-Haneda (7x) and Tel Aviv (3x); and San Francisco with Tokyo-Haneda (7x), Seoul (7x), Tokyo-Narita (7x), Singapore (7x), Tel Aviv (7x) and Taipei (7x). China is the big absentee after the pandemic, where it operated around 60 flights a week. And the development of the Indian market is limited as long as Russian airspace remains closed.
A little over a month ago, Emirates and Air Canada also signed a codeshare agreement, the materialization and route details of which will be announced before the end of 2022.
