The
hidden agenda of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise's (DAE) bid for Auckland
International Airport (AIA) may be to establish a secondary hub for
airline Emirates.
Merger
documents show DAE has pledged to use "reasonable endeavours"
to create new routes and services to Auckland for Emirates.
DAE
doesn't have a shareholding in Dubai-based Emirates, which flies four
times daily to Auckland, but it is chaired by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed
al Maktoum, who also chairs Emirates.
In
seeking to win AIA, DAE has made much of the value created by the
strategic aspect of $2.6 billion plan to control 60 per cent of AIA.
Kjeld
Binger, DAE's chief executive of the airports division, said DAE would
overcome the airport's present weak point in route development.
As
well as expanding the airport, it would enhance traffic into the gateway
"through working proactively with airlines to promote the airport",
Mr Binger said.
Emirates
meanwhile has a long-term plan to establish Auckland as a secondary
hub, from where it will launch operations into the west coast of North
America and possibly Central and South America. It might also look
to complete a round-the-world link between Dubai, South Africa and
Auckland.
DAE
sees Auckland as the first in a portfolio of airports the company
plans to own and build up around the world, but particular in emerging
markets in China, India and the Middle East, Mr Binger said.
Auckland
will be the South Pacific hub because of Australian laws forbidding
foreign control of major airports.
Three
years ago, New Zealander Gary Chapman, head of Emirates' ground services
company Dnata, told NZPA Emirates wanted to use New Zealand as its
base to fly into the West Coast of the United States as part of its
plan to become a truly global airline.
"We
see things happening in New Zealand," said Mr Chapman, who sits
two steps below the group president. He has been a major force in
pushing Emirates to extend its Australian operations to New Zealand
and to get the airline to back Emirates' sponsorship of New Zealand's
America's Cup yachting challenge.
Emirates, which had just two aircraft in 1985, today is the world's
eighth-largest international air passenger carrier, operating a fleet
of 102 aircraft and has another 106 on order, including 43 of Airbus's
A380 superjumbo. It carries over 20 million passengers annually.
The
government-owned airline plans to expand its fleet to 157 and double
the number of its destinations to about 170 during the next five years,
adding cities in the United States, Africa and India.
"You
will see in the future we have plans to serve New Zealand from Far
East points in our longer term plans," Mr Chapman said in an
interview.
"That
will happen. There is always the possibility of going beyond, going
east, beyond New Zealand to the Americas.
"Effectively
with our flights from Dubai to New York and in time, from Dubai to
Los Angeles or San Francisco, you could easily see an opportunity
for going around the world."
He
said a lot of people did not believe Emirates was serious about New
Zealand, just as they had been sceptical of the airline's expansion
in other areas.
"There
has been a certain amount of incredulity. A lot of people thought
we couldn't be serious about this," Mr Chapman said.
"We
are. We see New Zealand as an important market.
DAE
was set up last year by the Dubai government with funds of US$15 billion
($19 billion) and among other things wants to build up a portfolio
of airport companies particularly in emerging economies, primarily
in the Middle East, India and China.
