Emirates Evolution

Emirates Airlines has always been about Dubai and will always be about Dubai.
Nevertheless, Emirates is exploring new venues to increase its reach and support its expansion. As of
October 1, 2013 Emirates will fly one daily return flight between Milan and New York using a three class B777-300ER. This flight will increase the DXB/JFK flights to three daily return flights. Emirates will be competing with Delta, American and Alitalia on this route; it offers the best aircraft a B777 (A330 (AZ) and B767 (DL and AA)) and by far the best product and passenger experience.

Following the Qantas deal Emirates has indicated that it may look at flying to America from hubs in Asia as a continuation of a Dubai flight from places like Singapore or Hong Kong.

Last week Emirates, UK VP intimated that Emirates is not ruling out entering the North Atlantic market with flights to the USA through its hubs in north of England (Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham and Manchester). Emirates carried eight hundred thousand (800,000) passengers last year on these routes and has been upping the capacity in terms of aircraft size and frequencies. Emirates looks at it from the point of view of reducing congestion in LHR and providing a service to its customers in the region. One opportunity may shortly present itself with the EU requiring AA and US Airways to give up their LHR/PHL route after the merger.

Other than the Milan to New York flight in October everything else is speculation. However, the subject is out in the open and based on how the Milan flights do, Emirates may develop more hub cities.

ASA Twentieth Anniversay

Last week I had the privilege of attending the Aviation Suppliers Association (ASA) annual conference, from the 9th to the 11th of July 2013 in Las Vegas which also marked the association's Twentieth Anniversary.

Having worked for airlines and MROs dealing with approved vendor lists and suppliers' approvals, one becomes very familiar with the ASA-100 Quality System Standard, one of the most respected supplier certifications based on the FAA's AC 00-56A (Voluntary Industry Distributor Accreditation Program).
ASA maintains and ensures that the quality standard is updated and is rigorously applied.

One day in the conference is dedicated to the Quality Committee, where quality issues ranging from common audit findings and updates to the standards (ASA-100/ISO9001/AS9100/AS9120) to Law Enforcement Initiatives were discussed. ASA is not only an accreditation body, it is also an advocate for the industry on issues such as Counterfeit Parts, PMA Parts to FAA Part 21 and Designee policy among others. The association ensures the views of its members and the suppliers community on the whole are heard, proactively helping to shape regulations and policies.

Another aspect of the conference is the time dedicated to workshops and training, a total of eight (8) workshops in two (2) days.

On a personal note, the conference provided me with a unique insight of the hard work ASA does, not only to maintain the standard and support it with training but the advocacy work it does to defend the interests of the industry and its members.

And as Ms Dickstein, the association's President, said What happens in Vegas this time does not have to stay in Vegas and I totally agree.

Kudos ASA and Congratulations, keep up the good work.